Rika's Shadow
by sillylittlenothing
Summary: Rika's visit to Japan turns into something much more dangerous as her true path is unveiled. How will the boys react to what's happening to her? What path will she take? One to save the world? Or destroy it completely?
1. Arrival

**Authors Note: Wow, ok! Now I know why my stories have been removed! So before I have to wait another week to start over, I'm replacing this chapter again! I am going to go through and hopefully post one chapter a day until I get caught up. You don't have to re-read them if you don't want too. There shouldn't be too much changed, but you never know. Anyway, thanks to _Birth stained Scarlet _and _Ugly Kitten_. All other reviews will be answered when chapter 6 or 7 is posted! Thanks for your patience!**

"You'll love Japan sis. We're going to tour the whole country this summer!"

Rika can't help but laugh at her older brother's excitement. It is rare that she gets to see him so happy. Rumiko is an unquestionably handsome young man. Though he is actually her twin, the two of them really look nothing alike. He is average in height and inherited their father's exotic Asian appearance while she resembled their European mother. Rumiko has semi-long hair that falls half hazardously into his dark brown eyes. His skin is a little darker than Rika's, and his complexion was almost perfect; not littered with freckles like she is, and he keeps himself in great physical condition, well toned and slim.

Rika is a head and shoulders (literally) shorter than he is, with long straight reddish-brown hair and bright blue-gray eyes. Her skin is pale and she have freckles sprinkled on her shoulders and arms. When she actually gets sun, the freckles disappear instead of becoming darker, but because of her profession Rika is generally inside. She keeps herself in shape, as healthy as possible when she hardly has any time to herself; managing to go jogging, though it's mostly on a treadmill or indoor track. Rika also swims regularly and lifts weights. She had taken lessons in self-defense, and had even picked up throwing knives and guns before. That had been years ago though, and she no longer owned any of said weaponry. The self-defense moves are buried beneath 5 years of college and a year in the working world. Despite all her accomplishments, Rika and her brother are only 24 years old, still young in any culture. Rumiko is currently a teacher at a small town junior high school; he always has had the patience with teaching someone something and he loves his job.

When Rika agreed to go with Rumiko (Rumi is her nickname for him) for the summer, she had no idea that he was going to go this far with it. For the last 5 months he had given her a crash course in speaking the language. Only when Rika had speaking down had he started trying to teach her to read. It was difficult; just one line would change a whole word….stupid things. Rika couldn't remember the right word for it now; being flustered and pulled through the airport in Tokyo is not her idea of fun. Rika finally get her bags from the luggage claim. She has 5 bags to Rumi's 3, and he just had to pick on her about it.

"Jeez Rika, how do you expect to get anywhere if you have to lug all that crap with you?"

"I intend on having someone else carry it," Rika doesn't try to keep from grinning as she throws two bags to your brother, "And besides, only 4 of these have clothes and stuff, the other one is all my camera equipment."

"Oh right. You're going to take pictures and stuff," Rika noticed the tone of Rumiko's voice and gave him a look. "You're always working sis. Can't you just have a vacation for once?"

Shaking her head, she replies, "Look, these aren't going to be just for the magazine ok? Mom and dad always wanted me to take pictures if I traveled, and I'm not going to stop now."

Rumi sent her another look. Their parents had passed away two years ago. It wasn't a surprise to find out that their father had died. He'd been fighting cancer for two years, but when the doctors had found it, it had been too late for them to really do anything. Father's heart had finally given out on him, and he died in his bed asleep, just like he wanted to. Rika's mom followed him into the after life about two weeks later. She had simply stopped wanting to live. It broke the twin's hearts as to watch her waste away, and no matter what your family or the doctors told her, Mom had just let her misery eat away at her heart until she had nothing left.

"You had us mother, but you couldn't see that. You were too upset about dad leaving you," Rika thought dismally as she remembered exactly how her mom had looked the last day she was alive. Nothing of her former beauty remained, she looked wasted and sick. Sighing, Rika brings herself back to the present as Rumi squeezes her shoulder. She looks up at him and realizes that she had been zoning out.

"I'm sorry Rumiko. I just want to honor the promise I made them."

Rumi smiled, "I know sis. I'm sorry too. Let's get going before it's too late to catch the bus!"

"Couldn't we wait until tomorrow? I mean, come on! We just got off the plane! Do we have to get on a bus now!"

Rika's brother grinned at her as he walked away carrying 4 bags. Heaving another sigh, she picks up her 4 remaining bags and follows him, careful to swing her camera pack up on her back so it wouldn't get bumped too badly. They catch the bus, without any problem, and decide that they should start speaking the language now that they're in the country. (From here on out you're speaking Japanese unless otherwise mentioned)

"So Rumi, where exactly is this bus headed?"

Looking out the window, he replies, "Right now we're going to a small town about an hour from here. I can't remember the name of it. But our real first stop on this adventure is Mushiyori City. You'll love it sis, I've been told it's very beautiful!"

Rika shakes her head as jet lag starts to hit her full force, Rika's day is starting over again, it's still early afternoon here. But her body is convinced that the sun should NOT be up right now, and neither should she. Taking this bus ride to her advantage, Rika falls asleep, holding her camera bag in her arms and leaning against Rumiko, the only real family that she has left.

_Rika wake up as the brakes squeal and the bus jerks to a halt. She glances around to see that she's alone, her brother had gotten off the bus somewhere and she is the only one there. Even the driver was gone._

"_This is strange," Rika thinks, "Where'd everyone go?"_

_Getting off the bus, she realizes that she only had her camera bag. Everything else was gone, including her purse that had the cell phone in it. The bus itself is sitting in an open parking lot. There are no other cars and no people around at all. The closest building seems to be about 25 meters away, so not knowing where else to go, Rika heads toward it. As she draws near, Rika realizes that it's an office building. There are lights on everywhere and the glass doors are unlocked. However, as Rika enters she notices that everything is eerily quiet. She walks up to the receptionist desk and looks for signs of anyone having been there recently. The phone is off the hook and has long since gone silent, papers are scattered everywhere and an ink bottle has been turned over, spilling its black contents over all the pages. Rika turns and walks up to the stairs, after a moment of deliberation; she ascends, hoping to find someone that can help her. There was no one on the second or third floors that she could see, but when Rika reaches the fourth floor, she pauses. All the blood is draining from her face; she can feel it retreat as her hands grow cold and numb. Bodies lie everywhere, pale and contorted in strange positions. Something is wrong though, there is no blood. Gashes torn into the bodies lie open, but dry. Disembodied heads lie near her feet, but there is no sign of bleeding from them either. Rika sees something move out of the corner of her eye, and screams in terror as her mother's body tries to crawl toward her. Rika runs down the stairs and out of the building, screaming her brother's name in English, begging him to help her._

"Hey, Rika! Wake up! We're there!"

Rika groggily sits up to see Rumi grinning like an idiot and trying to push her off his shoulder. She stands, still clutching her camera bag in fear because of the dream. Apparently Rumi notices her shaking.

"Hey, don't be nervous sis. You'll do fine, and we get to find a hotel room so now you can really relax."

Rika nods and smiles apologetically; she can't help but feel guilty about being so upset over the dream. After all, who would let a dream affect them like that? Rika figures she's just being silly; upset from the change in her surrounding and then the disturbing memories of her mother stressed her out. That's all it was, she is just stressed out.

After getting off the bus and picking up three of her bags, Rika follows her brother closely as he threads his way through the crowd on the street. It seems that the sidewalk has become a street for pedestrians. Everyone moving their direction (forward) was on the left, and everyone walking toward where the twins had come from was on the right. Like driving here would be. Rika thinks it's rather strange but humorous and fails to notice that her brother had stopped.

"Oh crap! I'm so sorry bro!" Rika exclaims in English as she picks up one of the bags she had knocked off his shoulder.

"It's ok. This is our hotel. I think."

Glancing at Rumiko, she notices that he seems a little confused. Taking a closer look at the building, you understand why. The sign had an English translation which read "Sunrise Hotel." The building, however, looked like an office building. At least 30 stories of glass and steel towered above you, and the revolving door spun constantly as men and women dressed in business suits came and went. Sending Rumi an amused look, Rika starts forward nudging him to walk in front of her. Rika remembered that these people (no offense) were still very old fashioned. The men were expected to enter and exit before the woman, walk in front of her, and take care of all the business stuff. Well, hopefully they aren't that bad, but you never know. And Rika knows for a fact that her brother does NOT want to look like a bumbling tourist. So she lets him handle things instead of making an idiot of herself and him by trying to be Americanized.

As it turns out, this is a very good thing. Rumiko speaks with the receptionist (who for all the world looked like a secretary at a high stakes corporation), and then had to read and sign some sort of paper. Everything was in kanji, of course, and Rika knows that she would have looked stupid had she tried to handle the situation. Rumi hands the secretary the signed paper and takes a card from her. He turns to Rika, picking up four of the bags and leads her to the elevator.

"What was all that about?" Rika asks.

"Because of all the tourists, the hotel makes you sign a statement that basically relieves them of any possible lawsuits should the suit be broken into or something."

Rika nods; after all it only made sense that they would cover their own ass. That they would go this far with it was a little odd, but still they couldn't handle the dough they'd have to dish out if some idiot lost her purse and claimed it had been stolen in the lobby or something.

"Where's our room?"

Rumi smiles, "Room 117 floor 13."

"Jeez, these rooms must be tiny then."

"Yes, they are. We'll have a pair of twin sized beds, a TV, a small fridge, and a bathroom. So don't expect much," he replied chuckling.

Rika shrugs, despite the fact that Rumi is laughing at her. She had heard somewhere that the islands were heavily populated and they didn't give anyone more room than they had too. She wouldn't be surprised to find out that this was over exaggerated, but then she wouldn't be surprised if it was true either.

The elevator door opened on the thirteenth floor and Rika follows Rumi out into the hall. He quickly walks to room 117, slides the card through the lock on the door handle, and opens the door when the light turns from red to green. Rika is surprised to find the room a little bigger than she had thought it would be. There is at least three feet around the three sides of the beds not against the wall and comfortable walking room past the TV to the bathroom (which was almost unbearably small). Rika plops her bags at the foot of the bed and flings herself on the bed.

"Very graceful," Rika faintly hears Rumi murmur as she falls asleep.


	2. The Park

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except for Rumiko and Rika. Any names for parks or places that happen to belong to actual locations are accidental. So I apologize if I used someone's name or whatever. But don't sue me over it! Go after the muse! points to fiendish looking black creature with piercing yellow eyes Though I wouldn't recommend it.**

_Rika finds herself in an alley backed against a wall with her brother standing in front of her, trying to protect her from some unseen danger. Suddenly, Rumiko's body is on the ground, his head rolling soundlessly across the concrete. There is no blood from his body, but a sword stained red is now coming for Rika. She cannot make out the swordsman, as she ducks under the swipe that was meant for her neck. Rika rolls away from the wall and comes to her feet running. She has no weapons, and doesn't know what else to do. Her brother had died._

_"He's dead. He's gone. What do I do? What do I do?"_

_Rika chants these words over and over as she darts down deserted streets. All the buildings are boarded up, and there is no where for Rika to hide. She can hear the killer gaining on her, his feet pound in rhythm to her heart as she races around yet another corner. Only when Rika come around this corner there is a flash of green, closely followed by red, black, and blue. She's being held against the wall, someone's arms wrapped around her slim waist as she feels her body give out. The person behind her takes a serrated knife and slashes across her abdomen with it. As Rika falls forward, trying to hold her entrails and keep them from hitting the dirt, she hears her brother call out._

"Rika! Wake up!"

She sits up on the bed, panting slightly and look up to see Rumiko with his arms crossed.

"If you keep having these stupid nightmares, you'll never get any sleep. Are you sure you don't want to tell me what it was about?"

Rika shakes her head no and climbs out of bed to get dressed. As she showers, she thinks about the dream. The young woman has been having nightmares since her mother passed away. Rika's own mind plagued her with horrifying images of her last living relative dieing, and she never really has had a good night's sleep. Rika thinks about how she has learned to read people. Before she had a sixth sense as to whether or not she could trust someone, but now she could easily tell if they were lying, or if they had other intentions.

Rika steps out of the shower stall, dries off, and gets dressed still thinking about how things have changed since her mother died. Her pictures have improved greatly, and her love for the artistic nature that being a photographer brings has increased as well. Rika walks out into the rest of the room to see that Rumi already had everything by the door and ready to go.

"So when are we going to change our money over?" Rika asks.

"We don't have to; I have everything on these credit cards. Well, they're like credit cards anyway, and they're accepted just about everywhere. So we don't have to worry about that."

Rika nods, smiling that Rumiko has thought of this and picks up her bags. The camera bag she keeps with her all the time, the rest can be thrown where ever. As Rika leaves the room, making sure it was as neat as when they had come in, she follows her brother down the street to the bus stop they had arrived at the afternoon before. The twins get on the bus that shows up ten minutes later and Rika seat next to her brother.

"I'm so glad they have these buses. We'd be screwed if we had to drive."

Rumiko nods in agreement, "Yeah. Besides you were never a very good driver to begin with. And now that you've had someone else to drive you everywhere you probably couldn't move a car three feet without hitting something."

Resisting the urge to slap her brother, Rika settles for a deadly glare which only serves to make him laugh. Not the effect she was going for. A few minutes into the drive Rika gets lost looking out the window. There are so many people here, and they have trees planted in the sidewalks, like in New York, except she is surprised to see that there are almost no white people. Knowing that she looks decidedly white, and that she would stick out in this crowd no matter what she did to blend in, Rika starts to think about how different everyone looks despite this. They wear different styles of clothing, or different hair styles. Each is still individual despite the similarities they all share. Rika wonders how her old friend could have been so racist against the Asian population. She claimed they all look alike, grains of rice in a bowl. You can't tell them apart without wasting the time to look for the differences. Rika stopped being her friend shortly after she told her these things. Rika told her about her Asian heritage, and she never treated Rika the same afterward. Rika was so hurt that she would be that way, but decided that it was for the best. After all, not everyone can be as accepting as her parents had been.

An hour and a half later, the bus comes to their stop. Rumiko helps Rika gather the bags from the luggage compartment in the side and they catch a cab to a hotel. Once again, her brother sets up the room in Mushiyori Estates. It was larger than the last one, and she supposed that it must have been more expensive. The decoration was tans and whites, very simple yet not cheap or unpleasant to look at. Rika set her bags down, put the cards she needed in her camera pack and carefully sling it over her shoulder as Rumi set his stuff down too.

"You ready for a day on the town sis?"

Rika shares Rumi's grin as they head to the door, careful to have her card key with her, and lock it.

"Where do you want to go first?" Rumi asks.

"Do they have a park here? If so, I'd love to get some pictures of the people. And I hear they have the most beautiful parks in Japan."

Sending her a knowing smile, Rumiko nods and leads the way to the entrance of the hotel. Rika steps out into the bright sunlight and smiles as the people walk past. They were polite, even if they were isolated in their own world they walked around you, careful not to bump anyone. Rika is starting to like it here.

Rumi leads her to the park, following the road signs. She is not disappointed in the park. It's surprisingly large, with sakura and cherry blossom trees. They aren't in bloom, but they're still beautiful. There are paths lined with flowers and couples walking side-by-side. Rika has noticed that they don't hold hands or anything like that, but her father had been that way too. He showed their mother affection at home, but when everyone was in public, he was careful not to hold on to her or anything. It's just the way the people are, and there really isn't anything wrong with that. Rika's always been leery of public displays of affection anyway, somehow it made her feel too much like a trophy.

Rika snaps pictures of the small pond and its ducks and geese. She takes landscape pictures of the paths, careful to keep the faces of people out of them. She approached one young woman and her child, asking if it would be alright to include them in a landscaping shot. After a moment of deliberation she agreed, and Rika managed to get a beautiful picture of them under a tree with the sun coming in from behind the branches. She thanked them, and told mother she would send her a copy if she liked. She gracefully declined, mentioning that her son was married to a photographer so she understood why Rika had asked.

Two hours of laughing with Rumiko and taking pictures passed before she finally talked him into being in one of the pictures himself. He declared that she would have to go through the same torment later on, and he would be the one telling her where to stand. Rika laughs and packs away her equipment, having used three rolls of film already.

"Let's go get something to eat," she says as her stomach quietly grumbles.

"Thought you'd never ask!" Rumi exclaims as he leads her over to a small noodle stand. After eating lunch (or brunch rather) they decide to head back to the hotel to rest a bit.

"Come on bro, I know your feet are killing you too!"

Rumiko only grins as he takes off walking down the sidewalk. He turns to go down an alley and Rika grabs his sleeve to stop him.

"What's wrong? This is a short cut," he explains as he turns to face her.

"We shouldn't go down here though," Rika says quietly as she glances around, "No good will come of it brother."

He looks her in the eye, to read her expression. It's something he does sometimes, to see if she's just being paranoid. He shrugs, "Come on, it will cut some time off our walk. And it isn't a long alley, only ten or fifteen meters. You can see there isn't anything there, so we're going this way. Everything will be fine, alright?"

Rika sighs, knowing that it would be pointless to try and argue with him and walks closely to him as they head down the alleyway.

Halfway to the end someone steps out from behind the dumpster, "Hey bud. You got any cash on you?"

Rika steps back, it's supposed to be fairly safe in this area. I mean, the law around here isn't exactly lenient on thugs, but to have one step up like this in broad daylight changed her opinion on how safe this place was.

"None that you can have. We don't carry cash," Rumiko states. He seems cool, and he carefully stays in front of Rika to keep her shielded from the thug.

Suddenly someone grabs Rika from behind and she feels something cold press against your neck, "Come on yank, give us some money or the lady here might have to come as payment instead."

Rika's heart leaps up into her throat and her breath catches in her chest. She is very careful not to move or say anything, and watches as her brother slowly turns around. His face is hard to read as he takes in the situation. The first thug starts to walk up behind him and Rumi suddenly wheels around and punches him in the face. Rika's captor loosens his grip on her. She turns around and kicks him in the knee cap as hard as she can. As the thug collapses Rika backs away and then runs up to her brother.

Four more men appear from around the dumpster, only they don't look like men. Their skin is discolored and their eyes are too large for their heads. All of them look the same, big yellow eyes, green skin, and claws. They remind Rika of some sort of lizard, but at the moment she's too shocked to figure out which one. Two of them lunge at Rika; she dodges them to find that they are still after her. Rumiko pushes her behind him, careful to keep all four creatures in front of him.

"On count of three, we run for it. Got it?"

Rika nods, and squeezes his arm to let him know she understood.

"Alright then, one….two…." the four lizard things leap on him, pushing Rika back to the ground. Her heart stops as she sees them rip her brother open, blood going everywhere. Once they kill her poor Rumiko, they look up at Rika. Panic and adrenaline take over her mind and she scrambles to her feet. Running out into the open sidewalk, she sees that there are people all around. Thinking as quickly as she can, Rika hides herself in the crowd and tries not to run. She doesn't want to draw attention. Rika turns the corner, following some guy she's never seen before then bolts down the street.

"What do I do? He's gone! I'm all alone! What do I do? What should I do now?" Rika doesn't realize that she's crying as she darts in and out of the crowd. She doesn't pay any attention as she runs across the streets angering many drivers. Finally she makes it to a bus, and gets on. Rika doesn't care where it's going, as long as it's away from here. She has to find someone that can help her. Rika has to figure out what to do. But all she could think about was Rumi. Her brother is gone. What does she do now? Where does she go?

**A/N: Alright, I just one question that I'm hoping you wonderful readers will answer for me...blushes What's a "Mary-Sue?" I've heard the termanology before, but I have no idea what it really means. Perhaps one or two of you would be so kind as to tell me? I would greatly appreciate it.**


	3. Friends are Found

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except for Rumiko and Rika. Any names for parks or places that happen to belong to actual locations are accidental. So I apologize if I used someone's name or whatever. Yoshihiro Togashi owns all characters, places, and attacks familiar with Yu Yu Hakusho.**

Some time later,the bus comes to a stop in another city.Rika steps off and looks around, wondering whereshe should go. There is a park just down the street soshe decides to head there. Once in the park,Rika finds a bench under a large cherry tree and takes a seat. For the most part the park is abandoned; only a few people walking down the paths or feeding the ducks at the pond.The traumatized womanclutches her camera bag and tries to think.

"The police won't believe me. But what were those things anyway? Why did they even attack us? Are they just that way? It wouldn't surprise me; they were hideous. Creatures that ugly tend to do things just for the pleasure of doing them. But then, what would I know of such beings?"

"Are you alright miss?"

Rikajumps at the voice, gripping her camera bag tighter, and looks up into a young girl's big brown eyes. SurprisinglyRikais only slightly taller than she is; standing next to her is a boy with black hair and big brown eyes.Rika looks at him; his eyes could have been described as fawn eyes except for the hardened appearance they have about them. One that tellsRika he has been through too much for his young age; that he knows too much.

Not knowing what else to do,Rika nods her head hoping that they would go away. But didshe really want them to go away? Perhaps they could help her.

"If ya don't mind me askin', how come you have blood on you?"

Rikalooks down at her clothes to find thatRumiko's blood had indeed been splattered on her shirt and pants.Rika also had some droplets dried onto her arm.

"My brother,"Rika whispers, touching the blood gently as if it were his face.She can't handle it anymore, the shock has finally worn off and the realization thatRumi is dead andshe's alone in a strange country hits her.Rika doesn't know ifshe has enough money to get back home. But how canshe go back home without a proper burial for her brother.

"Oh what am I going to do?"Rika asks no one in particular asshe buries her face in her hands.

"Hey, calm down. What happened?" the boy's tone wasn't as harsh as it had been a moment ago, and the girl was now sitting next to you on the bench, her hand onRika's shoulder.

Trying to fight the hysteria that has already taken hold of her mind,Rika tries to sort things out, "We are vacationing here, my brother and I. We went to Mushiyori park for the day and were on our way back to the hotel. Rumi wanted to go down an alley and then we were attacked. I don't know why. But they were ……they ripped him to pieces. What kind of creature can do that!"Rika stops herself, despite her quiet tonesheis terrified of being overheard.

"I think we should head to my apartment. My mom will be out, and we can talk about this there, ok?"

Rikalooks up at the young man; he was only a teenager, butshe trusted him.Her sixth sense is kicking in over-time andshe knew he wouldn't hurt her.Rika nods, numbly, and stands waiting for him to lead the way.She still has her leather case in a death grip andshe isn't about to loosen it. The girl is still walking next toRika looking worried.

"What is your name?"Rika asks, trying to calm herself down through conversation.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! My name is Yukimura Keiko. That's Urameshi Yusuke. What's your name?"

Rikahesitates, not sure whethershe should giveKeiko her whole name, "Rika."

She smiles and nods,Rika's lack of name doesn't seem to bother her at all.

"We're almost there," Yusuke calls out over his shoulder.

The older womannods and clutches at her camera pack a little more. Yusuke seems to notice this and raises an eyebrow, but doesn't say anything. The rest of the short walk is silent asthe three of themgo up the elevator to whatever floor his apartment's on. It is still quiet asthe girlswait for him to unlock the door and walk inside.

Once they're inside and the door is closed, Yusuke speaks, "I'm going to call the gang over. They're gonna need to hear about this."

Rika blinks at his retreating back, confused as to who he could be calling when Keiko's voice breaks into her thoughts, "Would you like some tea? It will help your nerves."

Rikasimply nod and follow her into the kitchen. The apartment is much larger thanshe would have thought, andRika thinks about what friends Yusuke might have that would want to hear her story.She certainly didn't want to hear it, or think about it. Keiko placed a warm cup of tea inRika's hands and poured herself a cup.

Yusuke walks back in, "They'll be here in a minute."

"Who will?"Rika asks.

He glances at her, "Some friends of mine. They may be able to help you."

Rikaknows he isn't lying, not exactly. It's more like he's withholding the truth.She doesn't know ifshe likes it, but these kids are the only ones thatshe's met so far that might help.

"Don't know how they could help,"Rika thinks to herself, "They're just kid's for the gods sakes."

Rikafeels a tingle down her spine and turns toward the front door (which can barely be seen through the door to the kitchen) waiting for the knockshe knew would come. Yusuke givesher a strange look and is about to speak when someone does knock on the door. He givesRika a different sort of look, thoughshe can't decipher its meaning, and walks to answer the door.

"What is you that you need Yusuke? You had said it was a matter of some urgency," the voice is calm and smooth. The sort that belongs to someone that is hard to ruffle, who always has a cool head.

"Yeah, well it is. Come in you guys, we're in the kitchen," Yusuke answers.

A feeling of disdain sweeps byRika's outer senses, andshe immediately looks to one of the three boys that has come in. He's short, dressed all in black with some strange sort of cape, has very strange black hair with a white starburst looking pattern in the front.

"Definitely not human,"Rika thinks to herself.

The boy looks at Rika, his red eyes narrowed slightly.She freeze up, realizing that he is very dangerous; her sixth sense seems confused as well. First it is givingher a calming feeling of trust, then it skyrockets towards panic and fear. This is not helpingRika's already uneasy mind set.

Rikatears her eyes away from this boy, and look at the oneshe guesses had spoken earlier. His long red hair compliments his green eyes wonderfully, and he is rather tall, taller thanRikafor certain despitethe age difference.She focuses her sixth sense on him and get back a rather strange report. It seemsRika can trust him not to hurt her, but there is a rather sharp edge of danger around that. As though he is very capable of harming her, but he won't because of something thatshe can't determine.

"Wow, who's this Urameshi?"

Rikalooks toward the boy who spoke. He's very tall, with orange hair in a strange style that some might compare to Elvis, and small black eyes. He's built like a typical brawler, but over allRika's sixth is tellingher that he's trustworthy and basically harmless.

"Guys, this is Rika. Rika this is Hiei, Shuichi, and Kuwabara."

Hiei seems to ignore his introduction, while Shuichi nods, Kuwabara kneels before Rika and reaches to take her hand. Before he can do so, however,she's on the other side of the table and close to the door. He blinks, seemingly confused as he looks around for her.

"No,"Rika says.

Kuwabara blinks, "Hey! How do you know what I was going to ask!"

Rikashakes her head, keeping a serious expression on her face, "Anyone could have seen that coming. You may be trustworthy, but that doesn't mean I want you trying to touch me."

"Oh, ok," he responds grinning.

Rikashakes her head at his dim wittedness and looks back over at Yusuke, "These are the people that are supposed to be able to help me?"

He nods, "Yeah, just tell us your story. We'll see if they can figure out what's going on."

Shuichi looks at the bagRika's still clutching and motions to the table, "Have a seat, Rika. Your tea is getting cold."

Rikanarrows her eyes at him, "He's up to something,"she thinks. Suddenly a picture of a fox with nine tails flashes through your mind, "A spirit fox?" Shaking her head,Rika takes a seat and picks upthe tea. The camera bag is now sitting in her lap, with her hand resting on top of it.

"So what's the story lady?" Kuwabara asks.

Rikatakes another sip of her tea asshe tries to organize her thoughts.She realizes thatshe had known this was going to happen. After years of the same dream over and over,Rika knew thatshe would lose her brother in a sudden and violent way. Onlyshe never knew when.The womansighs asshe begins her story, this time in a more coherent manner.

"My brother brought me to Japan for vacation. We were to spend two months here."

"Where are you from?" Keiko asks.

"America."

"Well that explains the weird accent," Yusuke says grinning.

Rikasmiles, "Yes well my brother gave me a crash course in the language. I'm still illiterate, but I can speak fluently. Despite my problem with accents."

"Oh man, you sound just like Kurama!" Kuwabara exclaims.

Rikaturns toward him, and thus misses everyone's glare directed at him, "As a college graduate, I would find it idiotic not to use the grammar and vocabulary I have learned, Kuwabara."

He blinks at her, "How old are you anyway?"

"Kuwabara! That isn't polite!" Keiko yells.

Rikashrugs, "Don't worry about it Keiko. I'm 24."She notices the strange lookshe's getting from everyone, "What? I don't look 24?"

Yusuke and Kuwabara shake their heads and Shuichi (you don't know that Shuichi and Kurama are one and the same) speaks up, "Well no, not really. I had thought you were perhaps 18 or 19."

Rikalaughs, "Well thanks. Makes this old hag feel somewhat young again."She receives a variety of odd looks and shakes her head, "Yeah, well anyway. We arrived in Tokyo yesterday, then traveled to a small city for a night's rest. This morning we took a bus to Mushiyori City and booked another hotel for two or three nights. I'm not sure what Rumi had in mind, really. But I don't mind. Twins have an odd sort of connection, you know, and I never really had to ask what he wanted to do."

"So Rumi is your twin?" Kuwabara asks.

"Yes. Well, Rumiko was my twin,"Rika looks down intothe tea cup, rubbing her thumb around the rim of it.

"So what happened?" Yusuke presses.

"After we dropped our things off in the room, I wanted to go to the park to take pictures. We were there for several hours, before I decided I had enough pictures for the magazine. On our way back to the hotel, Rumi wanted to take a short cut. Of course he didn't listen to me,"Rika sighs, "Sometimes he just doesn't trust me when I say we shouldn't do something. But we went down the alley anyway."

Rikapauses, replaying the next few moments in her mind.She tries to decide what exactlyshe should tell them. Shouldshe tell them the truth? Or just tellthem it was a normal gang. Would they believe you if you did?She looks up at Hiei and Kurama, "No,"Rika thinks, "Those two would know I'm lying. And that would cause problems."

"So what happened to Rumiko? Where is he?" Yusuke asks.

Rika sipsher now cool tea, "We were attacked. It's been years since I've taken any defense classes, and it just doesn't prepare you for this sort of thing. Not really. I knew Rumi could handle the one that stepped in front of him, but when I was grabbed from behind I didn't know what he'd do. I was worried he would actually give them the money they were asking for. If we lost all our funds we would be stuck here. Though now that I think about it, I'm sure the magazine would have paid for my return trip since I was technically working."She pauses again, thinking about how sillyshe had been.

Yusuke leans on the table, looking at Rika. "Oh, sorry,"she murmurs, "Anyway, the first two weren't particularly intelligent. Rumi quickly took care of his thug, and a swift kick to the knee cap took care of my problem."

"So how'd you get that cut on your neck?" Yusuke asks.

Rikablinks at him for a moment, and then touches her neck where the knife had been pressed.She feels a sting as your finger meets the still fresh wound; it wasn't bad, not deep or anything, just a nick. "That would probably have happened when I turned to kick him. I couldn't give him the chance to recover from the shock of Rumi's actions. At any rate, we were about to leave when four others stepped out from behind the dumpster. It was strange really, we hadn't noticed them before, and we should have. The alley waswell lit. But then again, perhaps they had some form of cloaking themselves."

"What exactly do you mean by this, Rika?" Shuichi asked.

"Well, they were not precisely human. Far from it, in my opinion. Their skin and eyes would have told me that, but their claws were certainly proof enough. They reminded me of some sort of lizard. The Komodo Dragon, to be precise."

Everyone exchanged glances asRika stares into her tea.

"These creatures, they attacked you?" Hiei asks.Rikais surprised by how cold and deep his voice is.

Shenods, "I don't know why. But they literally ripped into Rumi and came after me."Rika touches the blood splatters on her arm again, knowing that there is nothingshe can do to bring Rumi back.

"You're taking this rather well," Hiei sneers.Rika can feel the contempt he feels.

Sheglare at him, anger over comingfear, "You know nothing of me Hiei. I suggest you take your demonic comments and shove them up your ass."

Everyone blinks atRika while Hiei glares.She knows he would give almost anything to kill her, and it would be so easy for him to do so.She knows his anger is welling up to a point of rage. SuddenlyRika sees flashes in her mind's eye. The same boy, but green with eyes all over his body, and one large eye beneath the bandana.She knows her eyes have widened in shock. Suddenlyshe sees the third eye and the dragon hidden beneath the bandages thatcan not even be seen.

This triggers the memory of a dreamRika had once, long ago. A dream in which a man bearing a third eye and a dragon saved her life and tookRika away from everythingshe knew.She shakes her head and rests her head in her hands.

"And thus it began; the beginning of the end of the last cycle of my kind. The last of the Truth Seers have met their fate and must chose which path to tread. To help those that destroyed her race in order to save their own, or to destroy all which is around her and form her own reality with the powers she wields. The end is truly near, but which end will come of it all?"

Rikaonly now realizes thatshe had spoken aloud andshe stands, "I must return to my hotel room and gather what I can of my belongings. Then I will contact an agent and prepare a way for me to return home. My brother must go unburied, for his remains will no longer be fit for burial, if there's anything of him left. Thank you for listening to me, but I must return your hospitality with the rudeness of one that leaves just after tea."

Rikabows and starts toward the door, only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Turning,she sees Shuichi and immediately knows that he will not lether leave.

"I am sorry for your loss Rika, but I can not allow you to travel alone. Obviously your life is in danger, and it would not settle well with my conscience if you were to be harmed. Please forgive my forwardness, but allow myself and my companions to journey with you to retrieve your belongings. Then you could return to this city and stay with one of us. There is more here than meets the eye, and I would like to think that I helped the last of the Truth Seers take the right path."

Rikalooks deep into his green eyes and for only an instant sees gold. Finallyshe nodsyour head in allowance and looks back to the rest of the group which still sits at the kitchen table.

"We should go soon though, if they have more than two brain cells in their dragon heads they will have found the hotel key on my brother's body."

**Author's Note….**

**Ugly Kitten: **Thank you for telling me what a Mary-Sue is. I don't think that my story will turn out like that. Actually, I'm quite sure that it will not. I have a sketchy idea to how it should go. I just have to get all that into the computer...Thank you again for telling me why my story was removed. It will help me in the future.

**Dreamstar22: **Please do not blame yourself for my story being removed. It was an honest mistake on MY part and you are not in anyway responsible. So please...stop hitting your head on things. Thank you so much for your compliments. I wouldn't take it as far as 'best seller,' but perhaps with time I will have a short novel published. Who knows their own future? I'm also very glad that you don't think my story is a Mary-Sue threat. I don't believe I've ever read such a story, but I can't be sure. Please, if I go Mary-Sue on you guys, let me know. I can't know I'm doing something wrong unless someone tells me.

**All Readers: **Thank you all for your patience. It is very much appreciated. I only have time to post one chapter a day. Mostly because I'm so busy with my silly little life. Which amounts to nothing...hence, SillyLittleNothing. ((smiles)) At any rate, I will be posting new stories as soon as humanly possible. Just bear with me a little longer.


	4. What's This?

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except for Rumiko and Rika. Any names for parks or places that happen to belong to actual locations are accidental. So I apologize if I used someone's name or whatever. Yoshihiro Togashi owns all characters, places, and attacks familiar with Yu Yu Hakusho.**

After a few hours Rika is standing outside the door to her hotel room. Yusuke insisted on being the one to open the door, in case those creeps were waiting, and he now stands with the card in hand.

"Everyone ready?" he asks glancing at the group.

He is answered by a nod and proceeds to unlock and open the door. He pushes the door open quickly so that it slams into the wall and bounces back. Before it could get halfway closed though, the boys were all in the room and Rika stands in the doorway. They had already been here, it would seem. Rika's belongings and Rumi's things were thrown about the room; every bag had been opened and gone through. Luckily they had not done anything to the room itself, though everyone could smell Rumiko's cologne.

"Man, looks like a hurricane hit this place," Kuwabara said in awe.

"You ain't kiddin'!" Yusuke exclaims, "Hey Rika! You actually wear these?"

Rika looks over to see Yusuke holding up a purple thong. Sensing that he only wanted to embarrass her, she replies, "Well, Yusuke, that is generally why people buy such things. After all, it isn't as though I can use them as decoration."

Yusuke gets a wicked grin on his face, "You wearin' a pair now?"

The woman raises an eyebrow, "How incredibly immature. You will likely never find the answer to that question, Yusuke."

He mocks disappointment, "Ah well, maybe I can get Keiko a pair, think she'd go for that?"

Rika laughs quietly, "I would not suggest it. You should count yourself lucky that she isn't here at the moment. Although I'm sure it will make an interesting story for her later."

She starts picking up her belongings, ignoring the look she's getting from Yusuke.

"You aren't actually going to tell her about this, are you?" he asks.

Rika simply smiles at him and continue to collect her things. After a few moments, the boys help pack things into bags. No one is separating Rika's from Rumi's. There simply isn't the time. So after throwing everything into what bags are still intact, they stand, admiring the work. Only four out of the seven bags (this excludes the camera pack) were intact, but the group managed to get everything into the remaining duffels. Everyone (except Hiei) picked up a bag and walked out the door. Rika checks out at the front desk and they catch another bus back to Tokyo.

"I still don't know why I am going along with this. I should be on my way back home."

Shuichi smiles politely, "Yes, but you do not have a choice. You must come with us."

Again Rika has the sense that he is planning something, though she doesn't know what. She knows that everyone else was in on it as well, and she knows that if she did try to run now, it would be pointless; especially with two non-humans after her.

"And if Hiei has the third eye," Rika thinks to herself, "then he is probably capable of finding me with it. Isn't he supposed to be able to read minds with that thing?"

She glances over at Hiei to see him glaring out a window. He is sitting next to Shuichi and obviously hates being on the bus. Rika sighs and notices Shuichi watching her carefully. Smiling at him, she tries to ignore the feeling that he knows more about her than he should. The bus comes up to another stop, and the boys stand. Sighing, she follows suit and gets off the bus with them.

"So I'm staying in a hotel?" Rika asks, already knowing the answer.

"No, you are going to stay with one of us," Yusuke answers, "But which one?"

Everyone glances at one another. Finally Kuwabara answers, "Well she could stay with me. I'm sure my sis wouldn't mind, and we have a pretty comfy couch."

Rika nods; wondering why she is glad that he was the one that took the responsibility. Everyone else seems to accept it, and Yusuke pipes up.

"Hey, Kuwabara, I think I should stay at your house too. My mom won't care, and if these guys are after her, then I should be there."

Rika smirks, wondering what was really going on in Yusuke's head. Kurama smiles as well, "If Shizuru is alright with it then I would like to stay the night as well."

Rika looks over to the red head and frowns slightly, "What about your family? Sure they wouldn't be upset?"

Somehow she knew she had hit a nerve. Shuichi didn't show any signs of being upset with her comment, but the way Hiei tensed and the flash of gold the crossed Shuichi's eyes gave it away. Rika had been looking for these tell-tale signs. Hiei would do anything to protect his friend, and Shuichi would do the same for his family. She gives them a disarming smile, hoping to relax them some.

"My mother should be fine with it. I often spend the night with my friends." Shuichi sounds as though he is telling the truth, and for the most part, Rika's sixth tells her that he is. But there is an underlying lie there somewhere, she just can't pin point it. Frowning slightly she agrees, reluctantly, to the plans of spending the night at Kuwabara's until Hiei starts walking with them.

"You know, you don't have to come too. I'm sure three body guards are plenty," Rika remarks dryly.

"Hn. What I do is none of your business."

"Oh, of course, how silly of me to think that I could have any influence on your decisions."

Hiei glares at her: while Yusuke chuckles and casually throws his arm around her shoulder, "You know, I'm really starting to like you!"

Rika smiles at Yusuke and allows his arm to stay around her shoulder, as long as it is a friendly gesture. She is surprised when he doesn't remove his arm (after all, PDA is a rarity no matter what the form) but she says nothing. After a short period of time, the small group arrives at what Rika guesses is Kuwabara's house. It is surprisingly clean inside, and the woman that's there seems amiable enough.

"Hey bro. Who's this?" she asked gesturing toward Rika.

Yusuke removes his arm and grins, "This is Rika. Can we spend the night?"

The woman blinks for a moment, "Yeah I guess. I'm goin' out tonight though Kazuma. So no stupid stunts, ok?"

Kuwabara nods his head and waves as she walks out the door, "Wow, what are the odds huh?"

Rika shakes her head disbelievingly, "Too true Kuwabara, too true."

Shuichi studies Rika for a moment, and she turns to him, "Am I some sort of puzzle to you Shuichi? You act as though I am an enigma."

He smiles, "You are just a strange sort of woman Rika. You handle everything so well. It seems most amazing to me that you are as happy as you are, considering the events of the day."

Rika nods, not trusting herself to speak at the moment. She suddenly realizes that she's been staring into this young man's green eyes and directs her attention to Kuwabara, "Is there a place where I can sort this stuff?"

Kuwabara looks at her for a moment, "Yeah I guess you can use my sister's room. She wouldn't mind."

Rika nods and gathers a couple bags, waiting for Kuwabara to show her to the right room. He grabs a bag as well and leads Rika to a door. After Kuwabara opens it, he walks inside and casually drops the bag to the floor. She enters the room, surprised that there is a large amount of floor space, which she will need. Rika then turns to fetch the last remaining bag, only to find the red haired teen in the doorway holding it.

"Thank you, Shuichi," Rika says as casually as she can.

He smiles charmingly, "Not a problem Rika. Would you like some help?"

She starts to say no, but realizes that he probably won't take no for an answer. Rika glances to Kuwabara for help, only to see that he's left the room. She looks back over to Shuichi and finds that he has already closed the door and set the back gently on the floor. Rika sighs and decides the best thing to do would be to simply not say anything. She opens one of the bags and begins to sort through it. After a few moments she glances over to Shuichi to see that he has two piles beside him.

"How do you know which is mine and which is Rumiko's?" Rika asks.

He smiles without looking at her, placing a blue bra in the pile that must be yours, "It is easy to tell Rika. One only has to know what they are looking for."

She blinks for a moment as he carefully puts a matching pair of panties on "her" pile. "How can he be so at ease going through my personal belongings?" she wonders silently. She knows he's looking for something, but doesn't know what it could be. The camera pack is still carefully strapped to her back. She hasn't put it down this whole time. Rika isn't even sure why she's being so possessive of it; certainly these people wouldn't try to take it from her. But she's not about to put it down, not for an instant.

Rika starts sorting through her things again, and between the two of them, the work is rather fast. Soon they are packing things into the duffle bags, as neatly as possible. The over powering smell of Rumi's cologne hangs in the air and Rika finds the clothes that it spilled on.

"Do you think they would mind if I washed these?" she asks.

Shuichi looks at her for a moment, "No, I doubt they would. But why do you want to do that?"

She smirks slightly, "I don't know about you but the smell of this crap is about to drive me crazy. It's bad enough that he wore it, but I don't want to smell like it too."

Kurama chuckles as he stands and stretches. Suddenly Rika are aware that he is much older than 15 or 16. She knows he is older than her, but she doesn't know how this could be. Rika sighs slightly and picks up a necklace that had been found in one of the bags. This was the necklace she had given Rumi. It was a silver Japanese dragon threaded onto a strand of leather that had a silver clasp. He never wore it, but he always kept it with him. He said it brought him luck.

"I suppose it isn't lucky enough," Rika thinks as she shakes her head. After a moment of looking at it, she puts it on and stands up. She walks to the door and turns back to see if Shuichi is coming or not. She really doesn't want him alone with her stuff, despite the fact that he just sifted through half of it. Only she discovers him right behind her, surprised she jumps back slightly, bumping into the door.

"Don't do that Shuichi!" Rika breathes. Usually something like that wouldn't bother her, but with him it did. She finds herself breathless, her heart racing. She doesn't understand why, this has never happened to her before; Rika simply doesn't know how to respond to it.

Shuichi smiles a small, apologetic smile, "Forgive me Rika. I did not mean to frighten you."

She senses that he only half meant what he said. He is testing her somehow, and she isn't sure if she appreciates that or not. Rika finds herself wondering if she passed his little test or not, but then frown slightly, "Why should I care?" she wonders.

They walk out into the living area where the other three boys are and take a seat on the floor. Shuichi sits in the chair behind Rika. This makes her slightly uncomfortable, but she doesn't want to give that away. Casually she leans back onto her elbows so she can keep an eye on the sneaky youth without having to lose sight of Yusuke or Kuwabara. Hiei is at the window, but it wouldn't matter if she kept him in her range of sight anyway. Rika knows that if he wanted to harm her he would. She can only hope that he doesn't intend to kill her. She still has too much to figure out about herself.

**AN: I want to thank all of you for being patient with me. We are nearly caught up now, and it won't be too long before you're getting a new chapter. Ya know, instead of the rehashed stuff. Stick with me! Please! And I want to say a quick thank you to those of you who review. It's appreciated! If you have any questions, feel free to ask!**


	5. Memories

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except for Rumiko and Rika. Any names for parks or places that happen to belong to actual locations are accidental. So I apologize if I used someone's name or whatever. Yoshihiro Togashi owns all characters, places, and attacks familiar with Yu Yu Hakusho.

"So what should we do?" Yusuke asks once he realizes that Rika has joined them.

"How should I know?" she retorts, "You're supposed to be helping me, remember?"

Yusuke rubs the back of his head, "Oh yeah. So should we just stay here then?"

"It seems unwise to advertise where Rika is staying. She should keep her profile as low as possible. For now at least."

Rika glances at Shuichi, "I suppose it's a good thing that you guys always stay over here then. Otherwise someone might suspect something."

She can feel the air around her tense as they realize what she means.

"You know, I'm gonna go out for a little while. To the arcade or something, you know, so it doesn't look suspicious," Yusuke sounds as though he's trying to take command of a situation he's lost control of.

"I'm going too! I'll kick your butt Urameshi!" Kuwabara yells.

Rika shakes her head and smiles, "Then Shuichi and Hiei will have to leave as well. Hopefully no one will notice that I stayed behind. But certainly they would notice if you two do."

Hiei stands from the window sill and moves to stand in front of her, "If you really think we would just leave you here alone, then you're dumber than the baka over there. Shuichi may have to leave, but I don't."

Rika glares at Hiei before turning her attention back to Shuichi, "Well, you have to figure out somewhere to go, even if it's just for a little while. I'm going to take this opportunity to read."

Rika stands and walks back to Shizuru's room to get one of Rumi's books. They had both brought a couple of them, but she had seen one earlier that she wanted to look at. Rika closes the door behind her and starts looking for the book. She can hear the boy's muffled voices as they leave the house.

"Hmmm, here it is. 'Oracles and Seers: The truth behind the myth.'" (I made this title up, but just incase it's an actual book out there somewhere, I don't own it.) Rika turns to walk over to the bed and nearly screams when she sees Hiei standing just a few feet from her. His arms are crossed over his chest in an almost sulky way, and he's glaring daggers at the woman.

"Do you people _have_ to do that!" Rika gasps as she places a hand over her heart.

"Hn. It is not my fault that you didn't hear me come in." A hint of a smirk lingers on his lips as he watches Rika move over to the bed.

She tries to focus on the open book, but it proves impossible when she has a pissed looking demon standing there just staring at her. Rika sighs and closes the book, looking over at Hiei, "Alright. I'm going to wash some of these clothes. You want to watch me? You might learn something."

Hiei just glares and follows Rika as she collects the cologne drenched clothes and looks for the washer. She finds it after just a moment or two of looking, hidden in a closet type room at the back of the hallway. She loads the clothes and sets the temperature to cold. After a quick look at the detergents that are available she decides to use the ones she brought with her.

"This way I at least know what I'm using. Damn it, why didn't Rumi give me more time to learn how to read?"

Despite the fact that Rika is thinking this, Hiei sends her a strange look. "You actually can't read?"

Rika narrows her eyes, but refuses to look at him as she pours the detergent into the washer and starts it, "I can read English, Spanish, and German. I can speak those three, Czech, French, and Japanese. But I can't read the things you call writing."

He moves in front of her, "You have to be the dumbest smart person I know."

Rika blinks for a moment, surprised at his choice of words. That phrase had been used in some movie she'd seen once, and her friends back in the States accused her of that quite often. Her mind flooded with memories and for a moment Rika is lost to the world around her.

_Rika's friend Dodie was sitting next to her in a movie theater, laughing at the movie they were watching._

_"That's perfect for you Rika! The dumbest smart person!" She couldn't finish whatever she was thinking as she clutched her chair to keep from falling to the floor. Rika smiled at her and shook her head._

_On the walk home, Rika got a strange feeling that someone was behind her. She stopped at the crosswalk, allowing Dodie to walk into the street. Halfway across, she stopped and looked back at Rika._

_"Come on Rika! Move it!"_

_"I'm coming!" Rika called back. Just as she was about to step off the curb, a car came speeding around the corner and plowed Dodie into the ground. "Dodie!" she screamed as she ran out to her. There wasn't anyone else around, the guy that had hit her never even slowed down, and Rika felt panic take over as she called for an ambulance on her cell phone._

_At Dodie's funeral Rika tried to console Sarah, another of her friends. Sarah and Dodie had been inseparable since they started Jr. High. They had attended the same college, and even worked at the same office after they graduated. Sarah ran from the burial site and disappeared into the crowded streets of the city._

_Later that night Rika decided to check on Sarah and walked down the street to her apartment. Halfway there she stopped at Dodie's old apartment building and went inside. Using the key that her friend had given her, Rika opened the door and saw Sarah with a gun to her temple._

_"Sarah NO!"_

_But Sarah didn't listen. She pulled the trigger as Rika started to run to her and blood splattered all over the wall. Rika noticed a picture Sarah had been holding. Dodie stands with her arm around both you and Sarah; written in gold gel pen on the bottom, "Friends for life!" Rika collapsed to the floor and spent the next hour crying her heart out until one of the neighbors found her._

Rika looks past Hiei walks to the room where her belongings are. Without a word, she takes her camera pack off and sets it on the floor. Rika takes her camera out, the rolls of film she had used, the new rolls still in their plastic canisters, and the neck strap that Rumiko had bought her before they left the U.S. Rika removes the plastic bottom of the bag itself to reveal a bracelet her father had given her. She looks at it, remembering the day he had given it to her.

_Rumiko was in his room and their mother was in the kitchen fixing dinner. Rika sat with her father on the couch in silence. The television wasn't on, and the only sounds were those coming from the kitchen. The family had just found out that Father has cancer. The doctor's had given him a short life-expectancy, and everyone was dealing with it in their own ways. Rika looked at her father as she felt him shift on the cushions._

_"Rika," he sounded so quiet, no laughter was hidden in his voice now, "I was going to wait to give you this. But now seems to be the best time. I don't want you to wear it, but always keep it with you. No matter what, don't show it to anyone. Not even your brother. This was my mother's bracelet. She gave it to me, and told me to give it to my daughter. It's special, Rika, and very old. Don't ever let anyone take it from you."_

_"Yes Father," she whispered. He placed the bracelet in her hand and closed her fist around it. Without another word, he stood and walked into the kitchen. Rika opened her hand and looked down at the bracelet._

Rika studies the silver bracelet with its little charms. They were so strange, a crescent moon with a blue stone in its cup where the rest of the moon should have been, a silver infinity sign, a circle cut in two; each half a tear shape, one white and the other black, and a purple a crystal that was perfectly round. Rika clasps the bracelet around her wrist. She doesn't know why, but she feels as though she should. The blue stone and purple crystal glow slightly. The clasp disappears and a tingling, like millions of needles piercing her skin, runs up her arm and spreads over her whole body. She closes her eyes against the discomfort, and when she opens them she feels different, though she doesn't know why. The world around her is in sharper focus, as though her senses had been asleep, and only now woke up. Rika's eyesight, which had always been ever so slightly blurred is suddenly sharp. She can read the titles on the spines of cd covers that are across the room, the sunlight is brighter, but doesn't hurt her eyes any more. The shadows don't seem as dark, and Hiei, who she just now take notice of, has a glowing aura; red and black swirl violently in the air around him as he steps toward her.

"What did you do, ningen?"

Rika looks up at him from her seat on the floor, "I've started something that must run its course. There will be no stopping the end this time. It will fulfill its own prophecy through that of my bloodline. What my ancestors started centuries ago will be finished through me, as I am truly the last of my kind."

Rika stands, and turns toward the door as Shuichi runs in. He seems alarmed, and beside him she sees a tall man with long white hair. His golden eyes pierce her blue ones, and his tails swish about behind him. His white fox ears are at attention, and a strange smirk curves his mouth. He steps into Shuichi's body and seems to mold himself into it. Rika catches herself on a nearby dresser as her legs try to give out.

_The same man you had just seen is walking toward her. He holds out his hand and she takes it. He then runs, dragging her behind him until they are standing in a clearing. Rika feels power resonate within him, and suddenly white flowers are in bloom all around._

"_This is a dream. I know it is. I fell asleep in my apartment. How is this so real?" she whispers as she looks around her._

"_This is your fate. This is what will become of you, if you come with me."_

_Rika looks into the bright golden eyes of the man standing before her and sees her reflection in them. Her hair is black as night, and her eyes crystal blue. She looks down and sees that she is wearing a traditional kimono, white with blue embroidered flowers. Rika looks back up at him and gasps as he roughly pulls her to him._

"_You are worthy, given the chance. And you will be mine, kitten."_

Rika feels all the blood drain from her face as she loses all strength and collapses. Shuichi runs to her, asking if she feels alright. He turns toward Hiei, demanding to know what happened, but receiving no answer from him, Shuichi turns back to Rika. She recoils from his touch, and sees a strange hurt look flit across his eyes.

"Kurama?" she whispers.

The red head barely manages to hide the surprise he feels as he asks Rika, "What are you talking about?"

"I saw you; in my dream, months ago. But it was your past life I saw, the fox that resides within you."

Shuichi stands and looks down at Rika, seeming to remember something. She hears a faint growl and glances at Hiei. He's glaring at her murderously, easing his katana from its scabbard. Shuichi, apparently oblivious to the angry demon behind him, reaches down to help her up.

Hesitantly, Rika takes his hand and stands. He looks at her for a long time, his eyes traveling over her body. Rika shudders inwardly as she refrains from running.

"You and she are the same, aren't you?"

You could barely hear his whispered question, but nod in response anyway. Shuichi brings his gaze back to Rika's eyes, and she fights to keep from backing away. A loud buzz makes her jump out of her skin as the washer informs them it has finished its cycle. Rika blushes and steps around Shuichi; the young man that might very well be her last hope for survival. The young man that harbors the soul of the creature that promised her, so long ago, that she would be his.

**AN: Ah, we're all caught up now, aren't we? Splendid. Now, I'll post the new chapter right after this one. And it's back to weekly updates. So I hope you didn't get used to this 'update-every-day' thing. Cause it's over and done with. Of course, I didn't really update everyday anyway. ((shrugs))**


	6. Secrets Uncovered

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except for Rumiko and Rika. Any names for parks or places that happen to belong to actual locations are accidental. So I apologize if I used someone's name or whatever. Yoshihiro Togashi owns all characters, places, and attacks familiar with Yu Yu Hakusho.**

Rika puts the clothes in the dryer, always feeling the eyes of the two demons on her. Then she goes to the bathroom, to wash her hands. For some reason, they suddenly feel dirty; though she can't think of anything she had touched that would make it so. Rika looks up in the mirror and gasps. She looks just as she did in the dream. Her hair is no longer brown and straight, but is now black and slightly wavy. Her blue-gray eyes are now pure crystalline blue and her freckles are gone for the most part. Her skin is now a delicate tan color, and as she moves her sleeve, she finds that there is no tan line. Rika isn't any taller or shorter, but she feels as though she shrank. The energy inside her suddenly makes her body seem too small to contain it. She studies this new swirling aura that she has around herself. Light purple and blue gently twist around her body like mist. Rika closes her eyes for a moment to calm down and half way hoping the aura would go away. When she opens her eyes again, the mist is still there and Kurama is now standing behind her.

Rika turns away from the mirror and walks to the living room. Kurama follows and sits next to her on the couch.

"Can you conceal your energy at all?"

She stares at him blankly for a moment, "I do not know. I didn't have this much before I put on the bracelet."

Kurama narrows his eyes and takes her right hand, studying the bracelet.

"How did you get this on?"

Rika smiles at him, "Well it used to have a clasp. But that seems to have removed itself."

Kurama studies the bracelet a moment longer before he tries to actually touch it. When he does a strange pulling sensation tugs at her body and Kurama jerks back.

"What happened?" Rika asks.

"It shocked me, in a way."

She looks down at the bracelet and touches the moon charm. Thinking about how the energy only made itself known after the bracelet was on; she decides to take a wild leap. Rika gently takes the purple crystal in hand and pushes her energy into it. It is difficult at first, but when she closes her eyes and pictures the purple and blue mist moving into the stone and the crystal it became easier. Soon, Rika felt like she had before she ever thought of the bracelet, though with quick inspection she discovers that her appearance hasn't gone back to 'normal.'

"What did you do?" Kurama asks quietly.

"I used the stones to conceal the power."

The red head raises a delicate eyebrow and looks over to Hiei who had entered the room a few moments before.

Rika also glances at the short tempered man, and sees that if looks could kill she would be splattered all over the wall behind her. Confused, she decides to ignore it. Some things are just better left unknown.

Not long after Rika had concealed her power, Yusuke and Kuwabara came in the front door, laughing.

"I told you that dork couldn't beat the girl!" Kuwabara said shaking his head.

"I just can't believe he got beat that bad! A tough guy like him?" Yusuke started laughing all over again.

Just then, Kuwabara seemed to take notice of Rika, "Hey. Wow, what'd you do to yourself?"

She shakes her head, this question is getting tiresome. "When may I sleep?" Rika asks instead.

Kuwabara sort of has a blank expression as he looks at her, "Sleep? It's only 8."

Rika shakes her head again, "Still a little jet lagged."

"Oh right," Yusuke says, "Well, you can go to sleep now. We'll go to the kitchen or something."

Rika nods her head and goes to get some clothes to sleep in. Hiei shadows her, and closes the door. She turns around to see him right in front of her. Rika steps back to put a little space between them, but he pins her to the wall.

"You know nothing of us. Despite what you may believe. I am very protective of what is mine. Leave him alone."

Rika can only blink as it takes her a moment to understand what he means.

"I never had any thoughts of pursuing Shuichi. It is Kurama that hunts me. I know of nothing I can do to change that."

Hiei growls and then disappears, leaving the door open. Rika sighs as she picks out a pair of blue boy-shorts (you know, like those boxers for girls) and a white tank top. She closes the door and changes quickly, throws her dirty clothes into another pack and walks out into the living room. After lying down on the couch, Rika quickly falls asleep, wishing that all this was a terrible nightmare she could just wake up from.

Rika awakens in the hotel room, Rumi sitting on his bed watching TV.

"Jeez sis, I thought you were never going to wake up! It's 11 already! The day's halfway gone!"

Rika blinks and looks around, "Was it all a dream?" she wonders.

"Well come on sleeping booty! Get up!"

She laughs and climbs out of bed. Heading to the bathroom, she bumps into a dresser. Pain runs down her leg as a purplish bruise starts to appear. "Well, this certainly feels real enough; it must have all been a dream."

Rika takes a shower, and while she's washing her arm, she notices the bracelet is there. Cold shivers suddenly rack her body as she stares at the charms, the infinity sign cold against her skin and glowing slightly.

She shakes it off and climbs out of the shower stall to dry. Rika suddenly realizes that her skin is darker with less freckles, and her hair is darker; she ignores the horrible feeling that has now settled in her gut. Once she's dressed, she heads back into the room where her brother is.

"What are we doing today?" Rika asks.

"I thought we'd go to the park, ya know, so you could take pictures or something."

Again, shivers run up and down her spine, "No. I'd rather go to a market or something. Then I can get pictures of everyday life."

Rumi looks at her curiously, "The park was your idea. Remember? We argued about it last night."

Rika blinks for a moment, and suddenly, she _does _remember arguing with her brother. He had wanted to go to the market and she had wanted desperately to go to the park.

"I've had a change of heart," she murmurs.

Rumi shrugs as he checks his wallet to make sure he had the credit cards and the hotel key.

Rika check her camera pack, to make sure that she also has the two cards, and then walks out the door. The two of them head to the market and spend the better part of the day trying different foods and inspecting the goods and wares available. Using a nearby ATM, Rumi gets some cash. Many of the people at the market don't take cards, and there is something that Rumiko absolutely has to have, so he says.

Rika laughs lightly and shakes her head at her brother as he slips through the crowd to some unknown shop. She stands at the window to a shop selling swords.

"That one boy, he had a sword," Rika thinks to herself, "I wonder if it all really was a dream."

"There you are!"

She turns around to see her brother walking toward her with his hands behind his back. Rika tilts her head curiously, "What do you have?"

"Close your eyes." She looks nervously at her grinning brother, but did as he asked. Rika felt him lean over and move her hair, and a weight is on her neck. "Now open them," he commanded.

She opens her eyes to see a beautiful amethyst gem on a silver chain. Its color somehow matched the purple of the crystal on your bracelet, and this one was left in its more natural shape. A six sided pyramid hung upside down from the silver fastening and the purple faded to clear quartz.

"Wow." Rika feels stupid, but there isn't anything else she can say, this is just beautiful.

"I thought you'd like it. Come on sis let's head back to the room."

Rika nods and follows silently, still staring her new gift. She's so lost in thought, she doesn't notice the crowd thin out, and she fails to realize that she has just trailed her brother into an empty alley way. She glances up again to tell Rumi thanks when a man stepped out from behind the dumpster on the right side of the alley.

"Rika, stay behind me."

She mutely obeys as Rumi blocks her from the drunken looking man before him.

"I only want the woman. Come now, I'll give you a good price for her."

Rika's astounded that this man would even mention such a thing and her brother appears to be beyond pissed. He takes a threatening step forward, "You will not lay one hand on her."

Suddenly, Rika's grabbed from behind, one arm around her waist pinning your arms there, and one around her neck, choking her. Rika struggles, and the sound of her feet shuffling and man grunting as she stomps on his toes makes Rumi turn around. The man he had been confronting took this opportunity to attack him.

Rumiko saw the man move and countered his blow. Rika's captor starts dragging her down the alley and Rumi and the first man begin to fight. Another man steps out of the shadows, but this thing is far from human. His lizard like head is grinning wildly, displaying very sharp teeth. Its green skin and claws add to the lizard-like look, but its long scaled tail finishes the effect.

The guy holding Rika thrusts her toward him and runs for all he's worth. Rika hears a strangled yell and see that more of the creatures are attacking her brother, having already killed the first man.

"No!" she screams, "Not again!"

The lizard creature grabs her left arm, its claws breaking the skin, and attempts to lead her into the shadows. Rika plants her feet firmly into the ground and yanks back. She feels her shoulder shift, pulling against the creature, then pop. Rika screams as the muscles and tendons tear and stretch. Not thinking, she kicks at the creature. It then lets go, but she tumbles to the ground.

"Rika! Run!"

Rika looks over, horrified, and sees her brother backed into a corner with three of the things stalking him. The one that had been trying to drag her into the shadows starts to approach Rika again as she scrambles to her feet. Rika's left arm hangs uselessly to her side as she runs toward her brother.

"No Rika! Run! You have to…" Rumiko is cut off as the creatures pounce on him.

"No no no! This is a dream! This is the dream! I have to wake up!" The fourth creature grabs Rika again and starts pulling her back into the shadows, the pain is more than she thought she could ever handle. Rika fights him as she fights reality, a mantra taking precedence over all her thoughts, "This is not real. This is not real. This is the dream. This is not real." Even her mantra is lost, as she falls into unconsciousness.

"Rika! Rika are you alright?"

Rika opens her eyes, wearily and attempts to sit up. Her left shoulder screams in protest and she gasps, collapsing back onto the pillow.

"What happened?"

She looks over to see Yusuke standing over her with the rest of the boys. Kuwabara is leaning over the back of the couch, Yusuke stands by her side, Kurama is kneeling next to her head, and Hiei stands at the foot of the couch. Rika winces as she tries to move her left arm.

"What hurts you?"

She glares at Kurama, "I am not a child." Rika forces herself to a sitting position and cradles her left arm. The puncture wounds from the creature's claws are there, but they are small gashes probably from when Rika had tried to pull away. She guesses her shoulder is actually dislocated as well.

"Come on lady, we're only tryin' to help! What's wrong?"

Rika looks back up at Yusuke and sighs, "My shoulder is dislocated, I think."

Yusuke looks at her as though she's gone insane, Kurama merely raises an eyebrow, Hiei narrows his eyes, and Kuwabara just stares dumbfounded.

"How'd that happen?" Kuwa asks.

Rika sighs, "I'm not sure. I know it has something to do with the bracelet." She examines the bruise on her leg from when she had hit the dresser. As she leans forward to get a better look at it, something swings down in front of her. Rika grabs it to look at it and feels her face pale. She starts to shake violently as tears rush to her eyes.

"Rumiko," she whispers.

**A/N: I would like to take this moment to answer your questions. Even if some of you forgot what you asked.**

**OneNightOneDream: Thank you for your support, it is much appreciated. I only hope that I do not disappoint you in the future.**

**fangimation: Thank you for your message. I'm glad that you like my story so much, and I hope you don't mind how I brought Yoko's role into the story.**

**Kamikaze-Watermellon: I have had a few compliments on my style of writing, I'm glad you don't find it too...immature. I thank you for messaging me and giving me encouragement.**

**SugarhighKitsune: I'm glad you like this story, I know that there are many YYH fics out there, and many of them have Kurama/Yoko romance plot lines. Please understand that this is not the main intent for my story, simply a...bonus, you might say.**

**Ugly Kitten: I left you speechless? I hope that this is a good thing. I would hate to think that I left you hanging for so long that you no longer care to read my story. And don't worry about finding something meaningful to say, you said more than enough in you review. I greatly appreciate it. And don't worry, I would have had these chapters posted this morning, but the website didn't want to work with me. I apologize for the delay.**

**Tarquine'sGrl: I'm glad that you aren't upset that this has turned out to be a Yoko based fic. I'm very happy that you reviewed all of my chapters, and I hope that I haven't disappointed you with any of my 'sudden' plot twists.**

**I hope to hear from all of you again soon. Please keep the reviews coming, it's the only way I'll know whether I'm doing a good job or not!**


	7. Little Old Women and Toddlers

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except for Rumiko and Rika. Any names for parks or places that happen to belong to actual locations are accidental. So I apologize if I used someone's name or whatever. Yoshihiro Togashi owns all characters, places, and attacks familiar with Yu Yu Hakusho.

"Hey, whoa, calm down," Yusuke sits next to Rika on the couch and puts his arm around her shoulders. "Tell us what happened."

Rika nods, looking down at the amethyst necklace that Rumiko had given her, and tells them the whole story from when she woke up to when she passed out.

Kurama studies her closely, "You say the infinity sign was the one activated?"

Rika nods her head and squeezes the crystal in her hand. She looks down at her useless left hand. She can't even move her fingers; sighing she looks up at Kurama, "Someone has to set my shoulder."

Kurama nods and has Rika kneels on the floor. She can't see what he did because she had her eyes closed, tightly gripping the new necklace as pressure was placed on her back and her arm was jerked then pushed. Rika grunts and stands up, gingerly wiggling her fingers. Kurama makes her sit back on the couch while he makes a sling and Yusuke sits by her again.

"So do you think this is gonna happen again? When you go back to sleep I mean?"

Rika shakes her head, "I don't know. But I'm not finding out tonight." She leans back against the couch and stares up at the ceiling, "I can't see it again….I just can't."

"I'll be right back," Yusuke says. Rika nods, not even looking at him, and allows herself to be lost in thought. She can't help but think how strange the whole experience was. Her brother acted just like he would, except Rika knows she didn't fight about where to go. But if they had, then the twins might have gone to the market. Does that mean that those lizard guys would have successfully taken her then? Rumiko died either way. And as cruel as it sounds, even in her thoughts, Rika knows that it wouldn't have changed no matter what the situation. It doesn't matter what she did differently in the past, Rumiko would still have died. So in the end, the only thing that really matters is what happened to Rika. She escaped, she's a live, and she's safe.

"Don't be so sure."

Rika jumps and looks at Hiei who is still standing on the other side of the couch. She blinks for a moment, "What do you mean?"

"Don't be so sure you're safe. There are more dangerous things than the Komodo Demons."

Rika meets his eyes for a moment; literally feeling the heat of his gaze, the anger hidden behind the mask. She shakes her head and turns as she hears the other boys return.

"We've decided to take you to see Genkai tomorrow."

Rika blinks up at Kurama, "Genkai?"

The red head nods, "Yes. She will probably know more about this bracelet than we do. Perhaps she can help you sleep peacefully."

The woman only nods her head in acquiescence then look away from him again, studying the necklace.

"You miss him that much?"

Rika turns her gaze to Kuwabara, "Wouldn't you?" She's surprised at how quiet and tired her voice sounds.

Kuwabara blinks for a moment, then nods, "Yeah. If anything happened to my sister I think I'd be pretty upset."

Rika nods, fiddling with her sling. Sighing again, she stands and make her way to the door.

Yusuke is suddenly in front of her, "Where are you going?"

The woman looks at him and tilts her head slightly, "I was going to go for a walk. Would you like to come?"

Yusuke gives Rika a strange look, "I don't have a choice. You can't go anywhere alone."

Rika chuckles quietly, clearly surprising the young man, "I can go anywhere alone Yusuke. Whether I come back alive or not is the only thing you need be worried about."

Yusuke gives her another strange look, "You wouldn't come back if you were dead."

Rika laughs again, slightly louder this time, "You would see me again; should I die."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because, Yusuke, I would not stay dead for long."

He studies her for a moment, then nods his head, "Alright, let's go."

Kurama starts to follow the two as well, but Rika waves him off, "One body guard is more than enough. And you have someone you need to talk to anyway."

Hiei glares at her, while everyone else looks confused. She shakes her head and walks out the door, Yusuke close behind.

The walk was uneventful, but Yusuke soon grew tired of it. He never said anything, but Rika knew. So she returned to Kuwabara's house and joined the boys in the kitchen. They stay up a little longer, doing random things. Rika laughs as they play poker, watch television, play video games, and finally went to bed. She sat up in the living room, so lost in thought she failed to notice a certain gold eyed man approaching her.

Rika jumps as someone kneels before her and her heart almost stops when she realizes who it is.

"Yoko," she gasps.

"Ah, yes," he caresses her face in his right hand, "You do remember. Soon my name will leave your mouth in more than a gasp."

Rika stares, wide eyed, at the man. He was so different from Kurama, of course the tails and the ears were a huge change, but his attitude was completely different as well. Yoko ran his hands through her hair, making her scalp tingle as he claws gently brushed over it.

"Do you fear me kitten?"

Rika blinks once, and then shakes her head no.

"Then why does fear scent permeate you?"

It takes her just a moment to understand what he means, and she actively works to calm herself. After a moment, Rika's heart rate and breathing are almost back to normal as she stares into his golden eyes.

He chuckles, "Much better. I like your natural scent so much more."

Rika freezes as he nuzzles her neck, breathing deeply, and tenses even more when he pulls her from the chair to the floor in front of him.

"You're afraid to go back to sleep, right?"

Rika nods her head, and wonder how he knows of all this.

"Then I'll keep you company. Shuichi won't mind, as long as I don't get him into too much trouble."

Yoko is now behind her, and he pulls her back as he reclines against the chair Rika had been in.

"Relax little one, I won't let anything harm you."

Rika knows he isn't lying, and despite herself she relaxes against him as he continues to stroke her hair. Before long, she finds one of his tails in her lap, and pets it without thinking.

She jumps as Yoko chuckles, "Careful kitten, kitsunes are strange about their tails."

Rika looks back at him, his eyes dancing with laughter; and then shakes her head, unable to keep from smiling as she leans back against him again. Slowly she dozes off, safe and warm in her sleep.

The next morning, Rika is awoken when she feels herself being lifted slightly. She sits up, and looks behind her. Rika may have fallen asleep with a suave fox, but she wakes up with an embarrassed red head. She tilts her head to the right and stands as he blushes fiercely.

"What's wrong?" Rika asks him. He shakes his head, and the young woman can't help but laugh. "Look," she tells him, "Nothing happened. He just helped me go to sleep."

The look Kurama gives Rika, though carefully poised, tells her that he doesn't believe it. Rika shakes her head and walk into the kitchen. She makes some tea and sits at the table, waiting for the other boys to get up.

"Would you like some breakfast?"

Shaking her head she takes another sip of tea, "This will do. Thank you."

After Rika finishes the tea, she gets dressed and returns to the living room. The boys still aren't up so she decides to read. Kurama soon joins her, sitting on the other side of the room, and the two of them read in comfortable silence.

Silence that is broken as Yusuke and Kuwabara stumble into the living room yawning.

"Hey, what's for breakfast?"

Rika looks up at Yusuke and shrugs before returning to her book.

"Well, what'd you eat?" he asks gruffly.

She shakes her head, and Kurama answers for her, "She had a cup of tea. But I'll fix the two of you something if you wish."

The woman looks up in mild shock as the boys quickly agree. After breakfast everyone is ready to leave. Rika follows them quietly to the bus stop and is slightly surprised when they get off outside of town. The only thing there is a forest. She looks to Yusuke but he only grumbles as he starts to head into the trees. Rika follows, not voicing all the questions she has, and are even more surprised when (after walking for several hours) they come across a temple.

The temple itself is nothing extraordinary, but the feeling she's getting from the boys around her is. Rika notices for the first time that Hiei has appeared beside Kurama. She blinks and wonders how she could have forgotten about him. He had left sometime after everyone else had gone to bed, but she hadn't really noticed. Now that he's back, she can feel animosity coming off him in waves. Rika shakes her head and starts to head up the stairs. Everyone else quickly follows and after quite some time (there are way too many stairs) they reach the covered entry way.

The doorway to the temple doesn't have a door, so Rika can see the person inside approaching. They look like a kid, but she's taken aback when she sees that it's actually a very old woman. Her hair is a light pink, obviously paled from age, her face heavily wrinkled and her hands are behind her back. Rika tilts her head in curiosity, wondering what this strange woman can possibly do to help.

"What do you want now, dim whit?" Again, she surprises Rika with the sound of her voice. It's harsh and rough, like gravel being grated.

"She needs your help," Yusuke answers, gesturing toward Rika.

"Well, what's wrong with her?"

They continue to talk about Rika's current situation, as though she isn't there. She is slightly annoyed, but never said anything, just waited patiently. Suddenly, she saw an astral picture of this same woman turning her back on Rika and leaving.

"Yusuke," Rika interrupts him from his explanation of her dream last night.

He looks over at her, "What?"

"She isn't going to help me."

The woman looks up at Rika, narrowing her eyes, and Yusuke looks confused.

"Why do you say that? Genkai helps everyone." Kuwabara asks, speaking for the first time since their arrival.

"I just know." Rika bows to her then turn and start walking down the steps.

"Whoa whoa! Wait!" Yusuke runs in front of Rika, forcing her to stop.

"Yes?"

"How do you know she won't help you?"

"Because she can't, Yusuke. You can finish speaking with her if you wish. But she can not or will not help me."

Genkai is suddenly by her side, "Why do you think I would not help you."

Rika sighs and tell Genkai of her vision. Genkai studies her for some time afterward, "You aren't a psychic though."

Rika shakes her head, however it's Kurama who answers, "She's a truth seer, Master Genkai."

Genkai looks at him, then back to Rika, "You mean _the _truth seer, Kurama." The old woman turns back to her, "Let me see the bracelet."

Obediently, Rika holds out her right hand. Genkai tries to touch it, but as with Kurama, she jerks back and Rika feels the pulling again.

"I see," she says quietly. "The best thing to do is take her straight to Koenma."

Yusuke sighs and starts complaining about stupid toddlers and ugly old hags as Kurama takes Rika by the arm and gently leads her back to the temple. She sighs as she follows.

"How are we to get to Spirit World, Genkai? There isn't a portal nearby."

Genkai glances at Kurama, "Yusuke can call him on his communicator. And then the prince can open a portal for you."

Kurama nods, but even Rika can tell that he's still distracted. Hiei falls in behind them as everyone goes inside; Rika can feel his eyes on her back and she knows he's using every ounce of restraint he has not to try and kill her. She sighs as she gently pulls away from Kurama and follows Yusuke and Genkai into another room in the temple.

When she enters the room, Rika finds Yusuke talking to what looks like a compact. She walks around behind him, to look, but all she sees is a blank mirror with buttons where the powder would be. Rika glances over at Yusuke then back to the mirror.

"That's the woman I was telling you about! Rika! You have to see her! Even the old hag says so!"

"Let me talk to him Yusuke."

The young man hands Genkai the compact with a disgusted look on his face. She talks to the mirror for a while too, and then nods her head, "Very well. We'll see you in a few moments then."

Rika looks back at her and shakes her head, wondering what sort of craziness she had gotten into. A few moments later, a slight popping sound is heard and what Rika can only imagine is a portal appears on the other side of the room. The thing looks like an oval doorway, but the inside is only a silver-blue swirling mass. Rika knows she looks like a child staring at a magic trick, but she can't help it. She's never seen anything so beautiful.

"Whoa," she says quietly.

"Wait," Yusuke says turning to Rika, "You couldn't here diaper-rash talking on the communicator, but you can see the portal?"

Rika looks over at Yusuke, "Diaper-rash?"

"Yeah, you'll meet him in a little bit."

Rika shakes her head and follows Genkai through the portal. She steps in, and out the other side. It's like taking a step down when you didn't know it was there. But other than that, Rika makes it through fine. She just manage to jump out the way as the boys tumble through. Yusuke tripping as he stepped out, Kuwabara falling on top of him, Kurama stumbling over the two heaped before the doorway, and Hiei landing on Kurama. Rika glances at the pile of groaning, yelling boys and can't help but laugh. As she looks around though, her laughter is quickly stifled.

Everywhere strange creatures are running with stacks of paper and other objects, answering phones, yelling at one another, and going in and out of what she assumes is the front door. Young girls are there too, in kimonos, running, walking, or flying about on what look like oars. Rika blinks and looks back at the boys to make sure they were seeing this too.

They all manage to stand after a moment, and seem to ignore the ogres except to dodge the ones that are in the way. She knows they see them, but they don't seem to be bothered by them at all. Rika continues to watch them, in amusement, as they scurry about. Some have horns, some don't, they're all sorts of color, and most of them are only wearing loin cloths. She nearly bumps into Kuwabara as they stop outside of a set of double doors. Yusuke glances back, as though to make sure Rika's still there, before pushing his way into the room.

Rika walks in right behind them, not knowing what to expect. What she sees, though, doesn't really surprise her. Not in the way it should have. Sitting in a chair much too large for him, is what appears to be a toddler. Rika stares at him, and he stares at her. She takes in the strange hat with Jr. on it, the blue pacifier in his mouth, the little sash around his waist, the stamp and papers he has set up on his desk. Rika shakes her head and sighs.

"What?" Yusuke asks.

"That's it, all I need him to do is poof into a teenager and I'll have seen everything."

They all blink at Rika in surprise. Apparently this is not the reaction they had expected.

"Why is that?" the baby asks around his binky.

Rika raises an eyebrow, "Because, little prince, my life would not be complete were it not in the hands of a child."

**AN: Answers to some questions...**

**Honeychicka04: Well I'm glad you like my story so far. I hope I don't disappoint you, but don't be surprised...**

**SugarhighKitsune: Changing views isn't that difficult. I mean, you just read through, change "you" to "she" or whatever and make sure to change the verbs...besides, re-reading it I found a few typos that I fixed. I dunno if you noticed that or not...Heh...there have been a few minor changes.**

**gothic-ember: LOL Alright, I was trying to be obvious yet subtle. It seems as though no one's getting it. Hiei and Kurama ARE in a relationship. Hence Shuichi Kurama's unsettled/nervous reactions and Hiei's over protectiveness. I figure this news will losea few readers but...shrugs What can I say. I actually like the idea of them being Bi-sexual. I know it disturbs some readers, but that's the truth of the matter. Sorry if it offends you, but I simply can not change my story because of that.**

**IntoTheWakingDawn: Thank you for the compliment. Don't worry, you aren't the only one disturbed by Hiei's actions. I wasn't going to be so blunt about it to my readers, and I refuse to be blunt about it in the story because I want the other characters to remain clueless, but Hiei and Kurama ARE in a relationship. I am fond (although I don't know that that is quite the right word for it) of Kurama and Hiei being bi-sexual. I'm sorry if it offends you, or if you quite reading the story because of it. Don't worry, I'm not going to go into any real detailed things. I probably won't ever say anything beyond them putting their arms around their shoulders...unless I get way into the story. But I doubt that too. So if you're worried about detailed sex/make out scenes then don't. Because I don't go there!**

**Ugly Kitten: ((Grins)) I'm glad you like this story so much. And I'm very glad that you aren't weirded out by Hiei's actions. You're like...the only one not perturbed by it. ((sighs)) Anyway, Yes, Rika does have the amythest necklace that Rumiko gave her in the dream. I didn't realize that the ending was confusing, but hopefully this chapter cleared things up for you a bit. I know the dream thing is sorta cliche...I was hoping to twist it a little, but I suppose it didn't come out that way. Sorry, it's just a twist the bracelet has. Heh, something she's gonna have to learn to control...Ooops, slight spoiler. But I'm sure you already had that part of it figured out. I was really hoping to keep everyone in character. Please! If I start putting someone out of character tell me! I know you will, so I'm just asking so you won't forget. And yes, cliches can be a vicious cycle...a very vicious cycle.**


	8. Unexpected Answers

Hey everyone! Happy to see me?

(Crickets chirping)

Hello? Anyone there?

UK runs up out of the darkness: "Hey! Sorry I'm late!"

Oh, that's ok. So, my Number One Fan is here!

UK looks around: "Um, cakes, looks like I'm your ONLY fan."

Yeah well...while you're here, ya want to do the disclaimer?

"Sure. The only one that owns YYH is Togashi and his peeps. We don't, especially not SillyLittleNothing. Cause that would just be bad."

Hey!

"On with the story."

Right!

The gang continues to stare at Rika for a moment before Genkai speaks up, "You are not surprised by the Spirit World Prince's appearance?"

Rika shakes her head, "No, I almost expected this."

"What do you mean, 'almost expected?' How could you expect any of this?" Yusuke questions.

Rika sighs and looks down slightly, studying the floor just in front of the desk, "I can not really explain. To be honest, I don't know why I'm not surprised. I should be, after all, my life is in the hands of someone who looks like they're barely potty trained."

Koenma's face reddens but before he can say anything Rika interrupts him, "I said looks like, Lord Koenma. I meant no disrespect. Please understand that these past few days have been rather difficult."

Koenma studies the young woman for a moment, noticing that she's fiddling with a silver bracelet on her right hand and that her left arm is still in a sling. He nods his head in understanding, "Tell me, Rika, what is it that you can do?"

Rika sighs and looks back up at Koenma, "I'm not entirely certain. I know that I can discern truth from lies. Sometimes I can see straight through a lie and know the truth in its entirety; sometimes I can not. Apparently the bracelet allows me to visit other realms or dimensions. That's really the only thing that can explain what happened last night. The boys say that my body remained, but I do not know how it is possible for me to bring back objects or injuries. Apparently unconsciousness is what controls it though. I could not leave that realm until I passed out, so at very least that means that I don't have to worry about going there while I'm talking to you."

Koenma nods, "Do you suppose you would be able to take someone with you?"

Rika shakes her head, "I doubt that. While I was with Rumiko, I remembered what happened here; but it was hazy, like a dream would be. After a few moments in that world, I became quite sure that this one HAD been a dream. Though I realized when we were attacked again that this was not the case," she sighs, a forlorn look crossing her face. "I also know that neither Kurama nor Hiei are human. And Yusuke is very different as well. Kuwabara I know is simply psychic, or has heightened awareness. But the other three," Rika stops altogether and simply looks at the boys in question.

Koenma frowns slightly, "You can tell difference between demons and humans?"

Rika shrugs and looks over at Genkai, "I wouldn't say that precisely. It's more like I can tell they're hiding something and that it has to do with who and what they are. I can feel the dislike that Hiei has for me, though this is mostly because he tries to cover it somewhat. Like you, Koenma," she turns toward him, "Outwardly you hide the fact very well, but because you hide it I can see that I have baffled you. You simply don't know what to do with me. And because of that, my life may very well be in danger here."

Koenma stares at her for a moment, not saying anything. Genkai steps forward, "She also has premonitions."

Rika shakes her head, "I don't know that you can call them premonitions. I have dreams that may sometimes hold the truth of the future. Such as the ones with Rumiko. But you are speaking of what happened with you earlier. True, it was an image that I saw, but hardly something of the future. What happened with you could not be changed. When one receives a premonition they either have the ability to influence or change it completely. Had I known where my dreams of Rumiko's death had taken place, then I could have prevented it by never coming to Japan at all. Unfortunately, it seems as though my dreams were merely to prepare me for the event."

"Is that why you're all functional and stuff?"

Everyone looks at Kuwabara who had just spoken. Yusuke shakes his head, "How is it that you can sound so smart and so stupid all in the same sentence?"

Kuwabara just shrugs and turns back to Rika, "Well?"

Rika sighs and looks down at her left hand, fiddling with her fingers, "When one dreams of death for years, it is hard not to be somewhat numb to it. My brother's death still hurts," she pauses to regain control of her voice which is trying to crack as tears flood her eyes, "But I knew this was going to happen. I knew I would lose him and watch him die just as I knew I was watching my parents die."

"Your parents? What happened to them?" Genkai asks.

"My father died of cancer and my mother allowed herself to completely waste away after he died. She starved herself to death."

The group stares at Rika while Genkai and Koenma appear to be in deep thought, "Have you any other siblings?"

Rika turns her head to Kurama, "No. Rumiko was my last relative. My entire family has literally been dying off these past 5 years."

"It all started when you were 19?"

Rika answers Kurama with a nod, then looks at Koenma, "I do not know what you intend to do with me. But know this. As one who sees the truth, I can not deny it."

Koenma just stares ather for a moment before he looks to Genkai. She shakes her head and looks up at Rika, "Explain."

Rika sighs and allows her right arm to drop to her side, "I've always had trouble lying to people, especially ones I know. Now however, I seem to be incapable of even the smallest lie."

Koenma raises a tiny eyebrow, "And you know this how?"

The woman gives a small, sheepish smile, "I've already tried lying to you several times. The truth is what came out though, despite my efforts."

"What did you try to lie about?"

Rika looks up at the ceiling, "What family I have left, premonitions, and the death of my parents."

"Why lie about those things?" Hiei asks.

Rika looks down at him, shock clearly written on her features, "I have my reasons."

"Answer me."

Rika simply looks away, not wanting to say what she's thinking. Suddenly she drops to her knees as her mind feels as though someone is digging into it. Cradling her head in her hands, Rika fights to push them out.Surprisingly they are shoved forcefully from her thoughts, and Rika can actually feel walls going up to keep them out. She looks up to see everyone around her, except for Hieiwho stands to one side, eyes closed.

Rika tries to catch her breath when she realizes she's panting. Yusuke and Kurama help her to stand, and have to support her to keep her from falling again.

"What the hell was that?" Rika asks. Her head is spinning now: exhaustion, fear, and anger are her outermost thoughts. But the attack has left her with a head ache and the need to sleep. Not thinking, Rika rests her head on Yusuke's shoulder and closes her eyes, forgetting that Kurama is still beside her. She can hear others talking, but she ignores them as a new sensation sweeps through her mind. Someone else is there, inside the walls. Their touch is deft and gentle, carefully sifting through her thoughts and memories. Almost like someone straightening papers that had been shoved roughly across a desk. Rika opens her eyes as the feeling leaves and looks at Hiei who is staring at her.

"Hiei! Answer me! What happened?"

Hiei glares at the small ruler, "Do not raise your voice to me. Someone attacked her mind. They tried to destroy her memories while reading her thoughts. I forced them out and created a shield to keep them from gaining entrance again."

Koenma appeared bewildered, "Who would do that?"

Hiei directed his glare at Rika, "She doesn't know. And neither do I."

"Has this ever happened before?"

Rika looks up at Kurama, who directed the question. He shifts to stand more in front of her, and it is then she realizes that his arm is low on her waist. As he moves, his hand slides across the small of her back, but he makes no move to remove his arm completely. Rika forces herself to keep eye contact as she answers the question, "No."

"Then who would? More importantly, who would know that she's here that is capable of doing that?" Genkai asks.

"What do you mean Genkai?" Kuwabara questions.

"A telepath can not simply read minds from miles away. Many lower levels have to be touching the person, others have to have eye contact, or simply be able to see them. The strongest telepaths have to at least know where the target is, and must be able to have total concentration to affect them from any great distances. In other words, they would have to be meditating right now, and still know precisely where Rika is."

Kuwabara frowns, "So what happened to them when Hiei pushed them out?"

Genkai stares at Hiei, "It depends on how he did it. Either they have a head ache, they've lost their mind, or they're dead."

"With any luck he's dead. Though I doubt it." Hiei's voice is dry with sarcasm and anger.

"Why do it that way Hiei?" Genkai queries.

"Why allow someone that powerful to live if I have the chance to kill them?"

Genkai sighs at Hiei's answer and turns to Rika, "Well girl. Good luck. I have work to do." With that, she walks out the door of the office.

_"Why did Hiei help me?" _Rika wonders to herself, _"It's obvious that he dislikes me. So why help?"_

**_"I only helped you because the fox asked me to. Don't expect it to happen again."_**

Rika stares at the ground between her feet as she suppresses a shudder. She realizes then that Hiei now has total access to her thoughts. He put the wall up, so of course he could get around it. Her only hope to ever keeping sanity would be to make her own wall. She only has to learn how.


	9. A new home?

For some time after the "mind ripping incedent" (as Rika chose to call it), the boys discuss what to do with Rika. Finally it was decided that she should have an apartment of her own. The boys would stop by frequently and take turns watching her at night. Botan and a few other River Girls would help her during the day.

'In other words,' Rika thought, 'they have me under twenty-four hour servalence. What a splendid prison."

"So," Rika asks aloud, "Where am I giong to stay until we find a place?"

Koenma smiles, "With my Spirit World connections, I can have an apartment for you in a matter of hours."

Rika raises and eyebrow, "Oh really? How convienent."

Koenma smirks, "Not particularly. It's actually a ton of extra work for our regular people to do. I suppose that putting a few things on hold for a little while won't be a problem."

Rika smiles, but inwardly wonder why he's being so nice. Something here isn't matching up, andshe wants to know what.She can't use her truth-seer's abilities on him.Rika frowns mentally whenshe realizes that the wall Hiei constructed is somehow blocking those powers fromher now.

'Oh this isn't going to work,' Rika thinks. 'Something is going to have to be done about this, but it will just have to wait until I can get somewhere alone. If I can ever get somewhere alone.'

"Yusuke," Koenma's voice brings Rika from her reverie, "Why don't you take Rika back to the human world until we find something for her. You could show her around and everything."

Yusuke shrugs and takes Rika's good arm to lead her out, "You comin' Kuwabara?"

"Like I would leave you alone with a young lady!" Kuwabara challenges as he follows the other two.

Rika follows Yusuke around, only half listening to his description of the town and where everything is, and occasionally laughing at the stupid arguements he'd get into with Kuwabara.

"The fastest way to the arcade is through the park to the back alley!"

"Kuwabara," Yusuke grit through clenched teeth, "We need her to take the safest routes so she doesn't get attacked again!"

Kuwabara blinks for a moment, "Oh yeah. Ok then. So do you know how to get to the nearest grocery?"

Before Rika could respond, Kurama was standing beside Yusuke, "We found a place."

Kuwabara jumped into the air yelling, "Don't do that Kurama!"

Yusuke laughed, "Why didn't Koenma just use the communicator?"

"He wanted me to show you the way, since we're all going to have to know where it is. Surprisingly, it's close to Keiko's residence."

Yusuke blinked for a moment, "I need to go talk to her, she's going to be mad as it is..."

Rika sighs and gestures for Kurama to start walking as he turned his frighteningly calm gaze on her. Smiling, he turns and leads the group down the crowded streets. After a several blocks, he turns and walks up to a small house (much like the one Yusuke had before it burned down).

"Hm, nicer than I expected," Rika comments as she looks over the nicely furnished home. Everything was Japanese style, so there was no couch or recliner, but everything still looked very nice. Rika turns and smiles warmly at the boys, "Thank you very much. Everything that you've done for me...I don't know how to thank you properly."

"Don't destroy the world."

Rika looks over at Yusuke, shock written clearly on her features. She blushes when Yusuke starts laughing, telling her not to worry about it. Yusuke and Kuwabara quickly leave, each having their own things to attend to. Kurama lingers, however, as though he has something to say.

"Just say it," Rika advises.

Kurama chuckles, apparently amused, "Yes. Well, Hiei said that he would keep an eye on this house. The two of us will be here more often than anyone else because of everyone's schedules. I hope you don't mind?"

Rika shrugs, "I don't really care. I just want to get all this over with. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to take advantage of that beautiful bath."

Kurama shakes his head slightly as he again chuckles to himself. As he walks out, he turns back around, "Don't forget to lock the windows and door."

"Yes I know. I'm not a child. Goodnight fox." That said, Rika firmly closes and locks the door. Then she makes a quick round of the windows to make sure that they are also closed and locked. Afterward, she takes a long soak in her bath and tries to think about what she should do with the mess that's been handed to her.


	10. Days Go By

_I know, it's another pathetically short chapter. But hey, I had prompts to update soon and so here you are. I'd like to throw a quick thanks out to those who reviewed. I don't know if the rule against responding to their questions is in effect or not. So until I know for certain, I'm just going to do this. Thanks to **Yuki Amida, insaneningen14, Honeychica04, and Baka Hanyou Rahven **for taking the time to review and give your support. Not much plot unfolds, but I laid most of it in the open already so...don't expect too much!_

The next few weeks pass uneventfully.Rikais visited at random times by the boys during the day. Hiei has never allowed Kurama to come alone, though secretly Rika was very grateful. The chances of him turning fox on her is slim (so she's been told) but if it happened once it'scertain to happen again. Rika herself is an absolute mess, for fear of waking up in an alternate deminsion she's gone without sleep for quite some time. There are a few nights where she does fall asleepand usually she doesn't wake up until two days later. Worried by this, the River guides speak to Koenma about a way to help Rika.

"I have been doing a little research on the side," Koenma responds as he stamps papers, "It seems that the bracelet is activated by a true need of the wearer. So if she goes to sleep wanting only to sleep she should be fine. Have the boys been staying the night like they're supposed to?"

The girls glance at one another before looking back at the small ruler, "Ah, no sir. She's been alone at night."

Koenma drops the stamp, "What!" he yells, jumping on top of his desk, "They leave her alone? Didn't I ask them to stay with her at night! And why is she left alone? She could run off!"

"Pardon me sir," the green haired girl interrupted, bowing,"but I really don't think that she will leave. She has no idea how to control the bracelet. And she's always asking us when she's going to get someone to help her."

"Help her?" Koenma seems thoughtful.

"Yes sir," the pink haired girl answers, "She wants someone to teach her how to keep it from activating. She said that if you can find someone to take it off, she'd be more than happy."

"Hmmm," the toddler climbs back into his chair, "Well, I'm not so sure that there is anyone that can teach her. I don't think that there is another bracelet like that in any of the three worlds."

The girls nod, "We'll go visit her then and tell her the news." They then turn and walk out the door together. After they leave Botan comes in and greets the Spirit World ruler, "Hello Lord Koenma. You have the twins working on the Rika case?"

Koenma nods absently, still lost in thought, "Yes, they seem to like her. Botan, I was wondering if you could do a little chore for me."

Botan beams, "Of course sir. What do you need?"

Pudgy fingers absently stroke an equally chubby chin, "I need you to find Ishida."

Botan's smile drops, "Ishida? But sir, isn't he somewhere in Makai?"

Koenma nods, "Yes. I don't know where he is though, so you'll have to do a bit of searching."

Botan blinks several times before replying, "Um, right. I suppose I'd better get started then."

Koenma nods as he watches Botan walk out the door, shaking his head he starts stamping again.

**_In the park near Yusuke's house..._**

Yusuke stares at Botan, "So you're saying we have to go find some guy named Ishida that's somewhere inMakai?"

Botan nods somberly,"Yes. When you find him, you need to bring him to me. I'll take him to Spirit World. He isn't dangerous or anything, Koenma just needs to speak to him."

Hiei growls, "There's no need for me then. I have better things to do."

Kurama smiles slightly, "Like sitting in your tree watching the humans walk by?"

Hiei's red eyes narrow dangerously, "Hn."

"Come on Hiei," Yusuke teases, "This is your chance to get into Demon World. You haven't been there in a while, so I'm sure that you'll want to at least visit. Who knows, maybe you'll even get to kill something."

Hiei scowls and looks away from them, refusing to answer.

"Alright then boys," Botan cheers as she jumps back on her oar, "Best of luck to you!"

Kuwabara watches as she soars off into the sky, "Do you ever get the feeling that we're doing someone else's dirty work?"

Yusuke laughs, "Of course we are. What else are we hear for?"

Kuwabara sighs but Kurama starts walking before he can say anything, "The portal should be this way."

Grudgingly everyone else follows, Hiei bringing up the rear. Yusuke chuckles as they get to the portal, "Hey, it's better than hangin' around and listenin' to Keiko gripe at me. But let's get this over with, I want a chance to eatdinner tonight before going to check on Rika."


	11. Ishida

SLN: "Alrighty, before I start I want to take a moment to thank those of you wonderful enough to review!"

UK: runs up "Caaaaaakes! I wanna say it! Can I?"

SLN: "Sure, go for it..."

UK: "Alright, thank you's go to: _Honeychica04, Yuki Amida, and myself! _Can I say that? Thanks to myself?"

SLN: laughs "Ya just did. And please forgive me if my info on Hiei's Jagan Eye is wrong!"

UK: "Right...On with the story!"

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Botan skips up the stairs to Rika's apartment and knocks on the door. After a moment the door is unlocked and opened to allow the somewhat goofy guide inside. As she closes the door and removes her shoes, Botan notices that one of the doors has a sign posted on it. Curious she walks over and reads the sign which has been written in bold english, "WARNING! Dark room. Any who open this door will be beaten and thrown from the window."

Slowly she backs away from the door, careful not to touch the knob, and turns to Rika, who is setting up something on her desk. Walking over Botan asks, "What's that?"

"My laptop."

Curious, and slightly suspicious, Botan questions her again, "What are you using it for?"

Apparently finished setting up what she needs, Rika sits down and begins placing photos in a scanner, "Work. They mailed it to me when I told them I was going to stay for a little while. I still have to get my pictures to them, and this is the best way to do it. Besides, it gives me the chance to touch them up."

"Oh," Botan perches on the only other chair in the room, "So you're still working?"

Absently, the woman replies, "Yes. I was sent here to work in the first place. My magazine is doing a three month special on Japan. It won't actually come out for another six months, but I was allowed to come over so early because I was paying half the plane ticket and most of living expenses. The fact that I'm stuck here doesn't bother them that much, so long as I send them pictures."

Botan blinks, "So...are you going to write the story too?"

Rika laughs, "Write? Heavens no girl. I take the pictures. The guy writing it won't get here for a month or two. I've managed to gather just about all the pictures I need. So now it's just edit, process, and send."

The blue-haired girl smiles, "So you're okay to stay here for a while then?"

"Yes, unfortunately. I can stay here until the Japan issues start publishing."

Botan claps, "That's great! It means you won't have to think up any excuses or anything!"

The photographer nods, "Yes, I just have to send them a file once a week or so. The last month I can use as vacation."

"Wonderful!"

_Meanwhile _(Isn't that a fun word?)

"This sucks! Couldn't they at least give us a place to start looking?"

Kurama looks at Yusuke, amused with his antics, "I suppose not. It sounded as though finding this demon is very important."

"Yeah, well if it's so important why didn't they find him with all those do-dads they have?" Kuwabara complains.

"Who knows..." Yusuke grumbles, "Yo! Hiei! Can you find him using your Jagan eye?"

"Hn," Hiei simply looks away from everyone.

"No," Kurama answers for him, "He has to know what their Spirit Energy is like. Otherwise it's like looking for a needle in a hay stack, without knowing what a needle is."

"Oh." Yusuke manages to sound very disappointed, until he turns his gaze to Kurama, "What about you? You know a way to find this Ishida dude?"

Kurama thinks for a moment, "I know of someone who might be able to help us. If we can find her, she should be able to find him. That is, if you're willing to travel a bit."

"It beats just wandering around Demon World," Kuwabara says.

After a few hours of walking, Kurama leads the group into a village. Many of the demons there appear human, though there is the occasional bestial demon watchingthem. The villagers stare at the boys walking past, but make no move to hinder them. Kurama walks up to a hut that is slightly larger than the rest and stands outside.

"Yes?" The woman who exits the hut is short with cropped black hair that spikes naturally. Her simple pants and blouse do little to accent her figure, but the way she carries herself states how important she is, or thinks she is.

"I have use of your skills Taibia. Hopefully this won't take too much of your time."

The woman, now known as Taibia, studies Kurama with piercing black eyes, "Come inside."

After everyone is seated and presented with tea, Taibia turns her attention back to the fox, "What is it that you need now Yoko?"

Kurama sips his tea, taking time to carefully construct his reply, "There is an aquaintence of mine that I would like to find. Would you be willing to help?"

Taibia chuckles, "Perhaps. If you can pay the price required."

Kurama's green eyes bore into hers, "And what might you require?"

The woman's smile is not entirely friendly, "A FrogWart plant."

The fox studies the small woman for a long moment, then nods, "Alright. I only have one seed, I suppose you'd like me to help with it's growth?"

Taibia nods slightly and fetches a pot with rich black soil. Kurama appears to just touch the soil; a few moments later a sickly green slime spreads across the dirt. The slime darkens,then bubbles up and produces small yellow beads of what looks like puss.

"Aw man! That's gross!" Kuwabara, who had been sitting next to Kurama, jumps up and runs to the other side of the room.

"What the hell is that?" Yusuke yells, making faces.

"A treasure beyond price, if you know how to use it," Taibia responds, now beaming at Kurama, "Would you like to tell me the name of this friend? I would certainly be able to find him if you do."

Standing from his place Kurama slides his hands into his pockets, "Ishida."

Taibia's eyebrows shoot up, "Oh? Well then, I can take you right to him."

Hiei's eyes narrow but he remains silent.

Taibia practically skips out the door, leading the four boys down the main road of the village. At the edge of town, a particularly small hut sits near a clear creek. The woman knocks lightly three times before opening the door. An old demon, only slightly taller than Taibia, steps out into the sunlight, leaning heavily on his walking stick.

"Yes, Taibia dear?"

"Ishida-kun, these men were looking for you."

Yusuke and Kuwabara try to keep from laughing, as Kurama sends them a rather menacing glare. While the two idiots turn their back to laugh openly, Kurama approaches Ishida.

"I would like it if you could accompany me."

Ishida stares openly at the red-head, "And where might we be going?"

"Lord Koenma wishes to speak with you."

"What!" Taibia yells, "He hasn't done anything! Why does the Spirit World brat want to see him?"

"Child," Ishida chides, "Calm yourself. I will accompany you Kurama. I knew that I would be summoned again, I was only biding my time."

While Ishida packs a few things, he consoles Taibia and convinces her not to try and kill the Spirit Detectives. After assuring her that he would return soon, he followed the boys into the forest.

"Yo!" Yusuke called into his comunicator, "Bink! We have the old guy!"

"Yusuke," Koenma replied, sounding very tired, "What are you talking about?"

"What do you mean 'What are we talking about'? We found the demon you sent us to get!"

Koenma is quiet for a moment, "You mean Ishida?"

"Yes of course I mean Ishida! Who else would we be out lookin' for!"

"Very well Yusuke, I'll open up a portal for you."

"'Bout time! I want to get home! I'm frickin starving!"

A portal opened in front of the group and they all trooped in. As they appeared in Koenma's office they noticed Botan on the big screen talking to Rika. No sound came from their mouths but it appeared as though Rika was explaining something to the blue-haired reaper.

"You needed me, Lord Koenma?" Ishida asked, bowing.

"Yes, I think you know something about the 'Truth Seers' and I need as much information as you can give me."

"I know as much as you. The prophecy can be deciphered in so many ways. You must understand that they all have the same out come."

"Yes," the small ruler sounded dubious, "With Rika having the fate of the world in her hands."

The older demon sighed, "Yes. Should she learn how to control her power, that will be the outcome."

Koenma suddenly brightened, "And if she doesn't?"

Ishida eyed the toddler, "The only way that would come about is if someone killed her, or somehow obtained the secret of her power."

"Just what IS her power?" Kurama questioned.

Ishida studied the fox, "That I can not tell you. Only Rika will ever truly know."

"Well," Koenma declared, "We'll simply have to make her choose the right decision. And if we can not..." Koenma let the rest of that sentence hang. Everyone exchanged glances before looking up at the young woman on the screen.


End file.
